Beyond the Depths
by nightwayne
Summary: Shin Maxwell has no memories of his past, the only thing he remembers is his name and his birthplace. After being outfitted with automail he journeys across Amestris in hopes of remembering how he got there. Follows the FMA:B plot with slight alterations.
1. A Desire For All That Is Lost

**AN:** HUGE changes guys! I looked over the first chapter and realized how lacking it was considering where I was now. With all these finite changes this means that certain elements of the story will have to be changed, but on the whole most of the story you've read before will still make sense. The actual patch notes that I've written will be posted at the bottom of the chapter so new readers don't get spoiled before they read.

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><p><strong>"Beyond the Depths"<strong>

Chapter One :: A Desire For All That Is Lost

He found himself in the gritty, damp mud; a foreign sensation washed over his body. His gaze slowly drifted towards the awkward sensation that engulfed him. The sight of blood filled his gaze and his breathing became ragged and coarse, where his left arm once attached as no more, instead in its place was a bloody stump. As his mind came to this realization the pain began to come crashing down on him and wracked over his entire body, causing him to scream out in pain.

His mind told him to get up and move. He needed to find help, there was too much blood. He struggled to pick up his ragged and torn body, but the ground below his feet was a quagmire as rain poured down from above, all he could do was lay on his back and trying to remain conscious as the pain became more and more intense.

Fleeting thoughts filled his mind and he tried to verbalize them, but nothing more than murmurs escaped his mouth. Thunder crackled in the distance as the darkness overcame his ravaged mind and he slipped into unconsciousness**.**

_It's a fair trade, no?_

**_o-o-o_**

Stinging pain awoke the boy from his sleep, the feeling of darkness still present on his body. After noticing the comfort of his slumber, he had made the realization that he was in between the sheets of a bed; the beige and white sheets made it all clear. He looked to his left arm, his shirt was missing as well as his arm, replacing it was white bandages and soft material underneath it. With his left arm he began to inch his right hand over to the wound…closer.

A gentle touch stopped him from getting any closer; a touch that gentle could only come from a woman or a small child. "I wouldn't touch it," a hushed voice spoke beside him, "you may reopen your wound."

He looked to his right, a woman, no older than himself sat in a wooden chair beside him; her hands resting on her knees as her blue eyes peered right into his very soul. Her jet black hair stretched down her back stopping halfway down her spine, she fashioned two bangs in front of her face. "Who are you?" he asked, voices filling his head with probable names for the young girl.

The girl smiled, her teeth showing through the smile. "My name is Wynn, what's yours?" she asked.

The voices in the boy's head amplified, they weaved themselves through his thoughts. They grew louder, and louder until he was able to speak. "Name? What is my name…?" he spoke to himself gently, trying to remember his own name. The name Shin was dropped throughout his thoughts, the voices which whispered a near silent echo. "It's Shin," the boy said, lying back on the pillow and outstretching his right arm, "Shin Maxwell. Nice to meet you, Wynn."

Wynn noticed he was eyeing around the room, "The shirt you were wearing, was dirty and bloody. I washed what I could, but blood stains don't come out so easily," she paused and looked at the young man's face in even more detail, "you're not from around here are you?"

"No," Shin replied, almost instantly, "I'm from America, I live in a small town off the outskirts of Detroit. That's all I can remember right now."

The girl winced, and tilted her head, "America?" she asked. "That's a funny way of saying Amestris."

The voices in his head began to stir up again; he tried to remember what happened after he left his house that day; and why he was missing a limb. This was all a lot of information to process at the moment, but he was sure he was still back home. Only one way to find out. He rolled out of his bedside, his body aching with every movement he took.

"Hey! You shouldn't move, you're injured remember?" the girl said, trying to stop Shin from leaving the room.

Shin cleared his throat and spoke with a firm tone, "Let me pass," he said, "I need to see this for myself." Wynn hesitated for a second then moved out of the way and opened the door for him. He walked down the stairs slowly, one step at a time, reaching the bottom he opened the door. Rain bounced off the shingles on the roof and dripped to the ground. He had no idea where he was, it didn't look urban at all the whole area was rural. Not a modernized building in sight, no electrical poles, no cars, not even a bus! He didn't understand, he didn't remember how he got here; he struggled to remember his own name, he didn't even know the location of where he was.

He dragged himself back upstairs after closing the door and crawled back into the bed. He closed his eyes a few minutes and thought. _This is a dream, it has to be. I don't remember…anything. The last thing I remember is waking up on Saturday, everything else is just blank. Almost like something, or someone, doesn't want me to remember. _He opened his eyes and looked around the room slowly, he noticed some sort of operating table with a wrench and a full set of tools on it. Looking closer he could see a prosthetic limb made of metal lying on the desk.

"It's automail." Wynn said, noticing his eyes gazing on the work bench. She walked up to the bench and took up the arm giving Shin a closer look.

"Automail?" Shin asked, weakly coughing. "You mean like prosthetic limbs right?"

"Yes, exactly," Wynn replied, playing with the thumb of the left arm, "it functions differently from the stationary prosthetic. Automail gives you full range of motion, without sacrificing mobility on the user."

"It's a painful process to even attach it," a voice called out from behind Wynn, "most adults usually scream during the surgery."

Shin looked at the person behind Wynn, he looked to be aged in his thirties, and inky black hair covered his head; a few stray strands of hair dangled in front of his head falling beside his left eye. The man was an average build, taller than normal but at the same time wouldn't tower over Shin if they stood back to back. "Good to see you're awake," the man began, "I'm Wynn's father, Treize. Nice to meet you…" his voice trailed off waiting for Shin to respond.

"Shin Maxwell," he replied, "thank you for your hospitality, I really appreciate it. "

Treize smiled at the injured boy, "You were out for almost two whole days. Are you feeling alright, you know, besides the whole missing limb part?" he asked playfully.

"Yeah," Shin replied looking at his left arm, the wound still pulsing pain through his body, "I'm alright for now."

Treize pulled up a chair and reversed it do the back was facing Shin; he sat down and crossed his arms resting them on the back of the chair. "How'd it happen?" Treize asked.

"I don't know," Shin responded simply, "I woke up on Saturday and that's all I remember, next thing I knew I was outside in the rain; the trail runs cold there." He gripped his bed sheets with his right arm, he was struggling to remember, but his thoughts were all clouded; the harder he thought, the thicker the clouds got—thunder cracked outside startling him, rain soon could be heard on the rooftop.

"Ah, looks like the storm's back. I'm stuck inside for another day, damn; I needed to run to the market to get some supplies." Treize said bowing his head to the right.

Shin cleared his throat catching Treize's attention, "So," he began, he stared right into the man's eyes; the fire from them seemed to heat up the longer Shin focused, "tell me more about this 'automail'. "

An hour passed before Treize convinced Shin that he should take the automail surgery. "Listen," he began his lecture to the fifteen year old, "you're not going to make any progress just by sulking in this bed. You have a better chance to regain your memories if you aren't hindered by a lost limb."

Shin looked down his legs as he scissored them, he lay back onto the soft pillows and took a breath. "It's not that," he began, "I'm sure this is an expensive procedure, and I have no money to pay you…"

There was a brief pause in conversation before Treize spoke. He looked at his daughter and nodded his head in affirmation. "Don't worry about it." He said. Noticing Shin's astonished face he continued, "I got it covered, I just want you back on your feet again with two hands."

"Treize," Shin said, started to feel emotional he rubbed his chin, "thanks a lot. I really appreciate it; you don't have to do this you know."

"Ha! I'm a specialist when it comes to making automail and undergoing the surgery, Shin! Believe me this will be a cakewalk, I've seen people in way worse condition than you!" He paused and adjusted his position on the chair. "I won't lie though, Shin, you were in pretty bad shape when we found you."

Wynn shuddered, she remembered all too well what transpired that evening; there was so much blood, she wasn't even sure she was able to stop the bleeding before her dad showed up.

**o-o-o**

"You're alright! You're going to be just fine!" she chanted to herself, applying pressure on the boy's wound. Blood trickled down the side of the dining table as the fifteen year old tried to stop the young boy from bleeding out. She reached down to her feet and quickly unlaced a shoelace from her shoe; she wrapped it tightly around his bleeding stub. She had managed to slow the bleeding significantly but not stop it, "Don't you die on me!" she pleaded. The front door shut and footsteps walked into the kitchen, she looked behind her, "Dad!" she said, "Help him! He's in bad shape."

"Wynn? What happened?" Treize asked as he threw his jacket on the floor, quickly tending to the young boy.

"I found him like this," Wynn said, wiping the blood from off her cheek, "he was lying outside town when I was coming back home!"

Treize grabbed some antiseptic from underneath the sink and some gauze, he padded down the wound with the soaked gauze. "Did you, now?" he asked, "Did you also carry him inside?" he asked again running back to the sink getting some long bandages; he began to tie up the young boy's arm.

"More like dragged him. It was kind of difficult to get him inside, and even more difficult to clear a space for him." Wynn said, still applying pressure on the wound as her father continued wrapping.

"I taught you well," Treize said as he finished wrapping and tied a knot on the end of the bandages, "remove the tourniquet now. Let's get him upstairs and pray he makes it through the night." He added.

_**o-o-o**_

"You almost died, well, I thought you almost did." Wynn said looking Shin in the eyes, her gaze unwavering.

Treize cleared his throat, "We can start the surgery tomorrow if you think you're 100% ready, or we can start it whenever you're ready. A word to the wise, Shin, rehabilitation process usually takes around three years."

"I'll do it in two if I have to, I need answers." Shin demanded.

Treize looked taken back by the statement; he furrowed his brow and locked onto Shin's eyes. "You have yourself spitting blood, you're aware of this right?"

"I know," Shin said, "the more time I sit here, is less time I could be using to getting answers." He paused and looked at Wynn, "You wouldn't happen to have any books here, would you?"

Wynn nodded, "It's not central, but I'd say we have a fair amount you could read. I'll be back in a second with them." She returned a couple minutes later with a stack of interesting books which Shin had never seen before, one of the books fell off the stack and skidded towards the bedside.

Shin picked up the book and ran his right thumb over the hard cover of the book. "It's old," he began commenting on the book, he looked at the spine which had the title written across it, "Introduction to Alchemy?" he said, resting the book on his lap.

"It's something I dabbled in, when I was much younger." Treize said, rubbing the back on his head nonchalantly.

"I think I'll take a look at it, I'm quite interested in this 'alchemy.'" Shin said, opening the book and flipping through the first few pages.

Treize got up and moved his chair to the door, "Wynn, look after him," he said, "if you need anything, Wynn and I are right here." He said to Shin as he closed the door.

Lightning light up the window as Shin kept reading, Wynn watching his eyes pace back and forth across the pages. He began to feel drowsy and set the book down to his side and closed his eyes to catch some rest, Wynn said a simple goodnight as she left the room and walked over to the spare room across the hall, and she shut the lights off and climbed into bed.

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><p>*Spoiler Notes*<p>

-Chapter one and two are condensed into a more refined first chapter titled "A Desire for All That is Lost "

-A little more backstory on Shin's location when he awakens

-Shin has no memories of his past, other than his name, and his birthplace

-Since chapter one and two are combined into one long chapter, the numerical order of the following chapter has been changed, ex, Chapter Four is now Chapter Three


	2. Resurgence

_Chapter Two :: Resurgence  
><em>

_It's not right. It looks pretty, calm and peaceful, but it's not right. It's all just an illusion._

The sounds of bird's singing outside woke Shin up; it was nice to wake up to something good he'd been having bad luck for the past 24 hours of consciousness. He rolled out of the bed making sure not to roll over his wound and cause himself unnecessary pain. Shin started to make up the bed, it was a good thing he was right handed otherwise simple tasks would be damn near impossible. Once he was done he stretched out his back and his calves, his legs were still in great condition but even though he was recovering he would have to find a way of training. Following the quick exercise Shin made his way downstairs, Treize and Wynn were around the table eating and a spot was left for Shin.

"Morning, Shin. How are you feeling?" Wynn said beaming; she took a bite out of her toasted bread.

A little uneasy at first, Shin sat down at the table "I'm alright." he said politely. He took a slice of toast and starting eating it then moved on to the eggs and finished up with the water in the glass.

Wynn's facial expression changed from beaming to utter shock, "Did you even _taste_ all of that?" she asked rhetorically.

Shin smiled, but then quickly apologized he wasn't showing good table manners. Shin closed his knife and fork, "Hey, Treize, I finished reading that book. It was pretty interesting; I'd try it out if I had two arms to do it."

Treize just smiled; he swallowed the piece of bread in his mouth and began, "That can all change today if you like, I got everything set up downstairs, just give the word when you're ready" he said motioning his head towards the basement.

Shin laughed lightly, he knew he would have to start the surgery today. "I'll do it." He said to Treize confidently.

Treize smiling and led Shin downstairs into the basement; it was dark and musty until he turned on the lights. He could see an operating table with machinery that Shin had never seen before Treize looked more like a gear-head than a doctor but was still technically doctor. Treize instructed Shin to lie on the table,

"We're going to have to amputate that stub to construct the permanent housing for the automail," Treize said pointing at Shin's stub. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands he dried them and slipped on some medical gloves and snapped them on his wrists "And it's going to hurt once the morphine wears off." he said darkly. He prepped a needle with a liquid which Shin wasn't sure of what it was, and walked over to the operating table. Shin had never been scared of needles in his life, but in circumstances like this he was absolutely terrified. Treize assured him he would feel nothing after the sedatives started to work, it didn't matter what he said, and the thickness of the needle was far more intimidating than the thought losing the rest of his arm.

After the needle was inserted Shin felt like he was floating on a cloud, without a care in the world. He could tell the sedatives were working. Treize let the morphine circulate though out Shin's system before he proceeded to the next phase of the operation.

"Just keep looking at Wynn over there, you really don't want to see what's coming next, Shin." Treize said turning his back. There was the sound of a buzz saw spinning up, and the sound of flesh being torn apart, Shin didn't want to look over to his left but his peripheral vision was seeing it all, the blade slicing right through his shoulder. "There, that was the easy part." Treize said shutting off the blade, blood dripped from the blade into a bucket directly underneath it.

Wynn brought down the base for the automail, it looked light to carry. She set it down on the table and Treize told Shin to sit up. He began to construct the automail base to his flesh; Shin didn't feel a thing; Treize continued by drilling screws directly into Shin's shoulder blade and collar bones, after he was done Treize did a shake test to make sure everything was fastened and secured.

"There can be no room for error when attaching the base; I knew a guy once whose base wasn't on correctly; it was a slap shot job on the engineer's part." He paused, "Needless to say the guy wasn't able to move his arm anymore."

"So, are you the best around these parts?" Shin asked Treize.

Treize fastened another screw on the base, "I'm one of the best, but not the best there is. There's a man older than I am who lives in the mountains his name is Dominic he's a fabulous engineer. He gave a girl named Paninya a set of legs, very fine craftsmanship." Treize paused briefly, "And, to the southeast in the town of Resembool there's a woman named Pinako. She and her granddaughter are automail engineers much like Wynn and I." Treize shook the base a bit, it didn't budge. "Good we're all set, now the hard part; connecting each one of your nerves in your shoulder to the housing."

Shin took a deep breath and straightened his face, "Let's do it!" he said. Wynn walked over and turned on a machine, it made a low humming noise then attached itself to Shin's base, Treize walked over to a rack on the wall and looked for a suitable arm for Shin to sport, when he couldn't find one he bowed his head. "What is it?" Shin asked.

"I can't find the right size for you" Treize said, agitation could be heard in his voice "We can-"

"I have one," Wynn interrupted, "It's no trouble; I've been working on something, although it's just needs a little… tinkering. I haven't really had anybody try it on yet considering most of our customers have been adults. It a little concept idea I had during the summer, hopefully it's big enough for Shin," She bolted upstairs to her room and returned downstairs just as fast as she left, she handed Treize the arm and he examined it.

"Nice job, Wynn! When did you get time to do this? This is astounding! It's so light yet very durable!" Treize said knocking on the metal, "This isn't even combat automail! It could pass as it if it wanted to…just some simple attachments would defiantly get this thing going." Treize put the metal arm on the table and began to attach different colored wires to the inside of the arm, he opened up the palm and began to attach more wires to the ends and insides of each digit of the hand. Once he was done he closed it up and locked it up tight. Treize then took the ends of the colored wires and flipped down the goggles which were resting on the top of his head, they magnified his vision so he could clearly see the end of each nerve. He took out a rounded mechanism with a handle over the top and placed it over the opening of Shin's base it locked into place.

When he turned the handle he could see Shin's facial expression tighten and noticed he clenched his fist. This was extremely painful; the mechanism connected each nerve with the permanent housing over the shoulder at the same time. Treize removed the rounded mechanism and placed it off to the side, he began to connect each wire to the inside of the housing.

"All done," Treize said, wiping the sweat off his forehead, "I just have to connect the nerves to the arm and then you can go." he said removing the handle from the mechanism he used earlier. He placed it in a specific section on the automail arm and pulled toward him, the pain traveled all the way across Shin's body making him hyper extend his legs as a reaction. Treize let out a sigh, and looked at the finished work of Shin's arm. It was a perfect match, there was little need for adjusting the automail it fit him like a glove! "Alright," Treize said beginning removing the dirty gloves "One last thing, Shin…I know you're tired but I need to see if you can move your fingers"

"I'll try..." Shin said weakly. He barely moved the automail limb but it was enough for Treize to tell that the parts were working fine and in order. Shin rolled of the table Wynn helped him up the stairs into his bed,

"I can maintain that automail for you, Shin," Wynn said.

"Thanks, Wynn," Shin replied.

He climbed into the bed and Wynn pulled up a chair and sat next to him. She looked towards Shin and said, "That automail suits you."

Shin looked at his new appendage; it shimmered in the sun's light and judging by its reflectiveness, Shin could gather that it wasn't just made out of steel. A couple other elements were used to construct this automail; it truly was a work of art. "Thanks," he said looking back to Wynn, "it's quite something, this automail."

"Are your memories coming back?" she asked.

Shin shook his head, "I don't remember anything, well, there is something I do remember but it's so faint." He said resting his right palm over his face; he couldn't tell whether it was an actual memory or just the remnants of a dream.

"Well, let's hear it!" Wynn insisted, nudging Shin's right shoulder.

"Well, okay." He said with a sigh, "I remember a girl, she looks a lot like you, Wynn, and that's the only thing I can make out right now. The rest just goes white and my thoughts get clouded."

"Well, it's something!" Wynn said with a slight giggle. "I'm sure you'll remember more of it as time goes by, I'm sure of it!"

_I hope you're right, Wynn._ Shin thought silently while he brandished his teeth to Wynn.

Two weeks had passed before Shin was able to move his new limb without significant pain. He spent the first week of his recovery looking at books, learning more about the land he was in; history books described the country of Amestris that Wynn had mentioned earlier. The second week he knew that sitting around and resting would be the best course of action, but the impulse flowed through Shin to get training done. He got out of his bed and began doing pushups, it was putting a lot of strain on his left arm, and it hurt like hell. Regardless of the pain Shin did at least ten pushups every hour trying to make him stronger.

In his third week, Trieze's prediction came true. Shin vomited blood while pushing his physical endurance to the limit; Wynn had to clean up the seeping, crimson blood off the floors. Shin knew he was in the wrong, but he continued to push himself to become stronger. _I have to get stronger._ Shin thought going down to floor. _This will not hold me back! _He pushed himself off the ground and went down again. For the next couple of weeks, Shin's endurance began to show signs of improvement, he was getting stronger and his willpower nearly doubled, also he was no longer throwing up blood anymore.

The next few months were hard on Shin; there were many points in his training, (which he had modified from simple pushups to more assorted workouts which taxed his body) that he thought he had reached the limit and couldn't progress anymore. He thought his body would snap in two before he actually was strong enough to continue, but the painful truth told him that he still would need another year and a half before his rehabilitation period had expired. Shin sat on his bed, still panting from his workout; that was nearly eighty pushups straight before his form began to get a little sloppy. He moved his foot and hit it against something hard on the ground; he reached down to underneath the bed and pulled out a book. Smiling at the face of the book he opened the hard cover and read the title: "Introduction to Alchemy." He dove right in the book and started reading the book as he climbed back into bed. He flipped the next page and in the middle was a medium sized italic text that read: _Alchemy be thou for the people_. Shin began to read the next page silently.

_Alchemy is the science of comprehension, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter. Though useful, it is not an all-powerful art; if one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost. This is the principle of Equivalent Exchange—the basis of all alchemy. Two more principles make up this Law which is, The Law of Conservation of Mass and the Law of Natural Providence. _

The page ended, Shin flipped and kept on reading.

_The Law of Conservation of Mass states that energy and matter can neither be created from nothing or destroy to the point of elemental nonexistence. An example: to create a door weighing three pounds, at least three pounds of material is necessary and destroying another door weighing three pounds would reduce it to a set of parts, which in total would weigh three pounds._

_The Law of Natural Providence states than an object or material made out of a particular substance or element can only be transmuted into another object with the same basic makeup and properties of that initial material. For example: a small pond could be easily transmuted and frozen over because its attributes are all water. _

_In order to begin an alchemical transmutation, a symbol called a __Transmutation Circle__ is necessary. A Transmutation Circle can either be drawn on the spot when a transmutation is necessary (in chalk, pencil, ink, paint, or even traced in dirt) or permanently etched or inscribed beforehand, but without it, transmutation is generally impossible. Transmutation Circles are made up of two parts: the circle and the alchemical runes._

_The circle itself is a conduit which focuses and dictates the flow of power, tapping into the energies that already exist within the earth and matter. It represents the cyclical flow of the world's energies and phenomena and turns that power to manipulable ends. _

_Inside the circle are specific alchemical runes. These runes vary widely based on ancient alchemical studies, texts and experimentation, but correspond to a different form of energy, allowing the energy that is focused within the circle to be released in the way most conducive to the alchemist's desired effect. _

Shin flipped to the next page the first paragraph was in bold saying: **Rebound**

_Because the alchemical forces being manipulated are not human in origin, but of the world as a whole, the consequences for attempting to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange in transmutation are not merely failure and cessation. When too much is attempted out of too little, what occurs is called a __Rebound__, in which the alchemical forces that are thrown out of balance on either side of the equation fluctuate wildly of their own accord in order to stabilize themselves - taking or giving more than was intended in often unpredictable and catastrophic ways such as accidental mutation, serious injury or death._

Shin went on to read further on the book, he was learning so much in such a short time and he surprised himself when he realized he understood most of it. After most of the preliminary text was finished and a few more pages of reading and comprehension a text was given. The book told Shin that he had to transmute a glass of water into a glass of ice; the book showed him how to set up a transmutation circle. _So I have to build a transmutation circle favoring to the element of water, and I also have to include water's elemental sign in the constructional formula, which is H2O. _Shin paused before he got up_. Wait. How do I know that? I don't remember looking at that in the book._ He discarded the thought and went to the bathroom with a glass and filled it halfway with water. Walking back to the room he set it down on the floor and grabbed a sheet of paper, he began to draw the transmutation circle on it making sure to draw the circle and the runes correctly. After he was done he set the glass of water in the center of the transmutation circle and pressed his hands against the paper.

Blue light emitted from the paper and engulfed the glass briefly then faded away. The water inside the glass froze. Shin was startled at first but a smile broke its way across his face a second later, he had performed his first transmutation, he clapped his hands and ran to downstairs to show Treize and Wynn.

The two came running upstairs to see what all the commotion was about; Treize was the first to speak up. "Wow, Shin!" he said astonished, "That's amazing! How long did it take you to do this?"

Shin rubbed the back of his head, "Just under an hour of reading and following what the book told me to do."

"Amazing!" Wynn said holding the glass above her head. "It took Dad a few says to even get this far! And you did it in an hour?" she asked.

"Shin," Treize began, "I think you might have a natural talent for alchemy. You're gifted. I can tell!" He took a closer look at the glass the pointed back to the transmutation circle on the sheet of paper, "Could you turn it back to water?" he asked setting the glass back in the circle.

"Uh, sure!" Shin said. He pressed his hands once again on the circle and blue light once again covered the glass and when it dispersed it was back to water again.

"Amazing…" Treize said, dumbfounded by Shin's new skill. "Looks as if we got ourselves a State Alchemist!" he said jokingly to Wynn. Shin looked confused, but Treize quickly filled him in on the joke. "A State Alchemist is an alchemist who is employed under the Amestrian State Military as part of elite government mandated program. State Alchemists are to follow three basic restrictions: Obey the military, do not create gold, and do not create humans."

Shin shuddered, "What do you mean, 'create humans'?" he asked.

Treize knelt down beside him, "It's a serious offense to artificially create a human. Though no one has successfully done it, State Alchemists have a higher risk of attempting it because of their access to restricted content that no one else has access to."

Shin felt a cold chill down run down his spine. "Why hasn't anyone succeeded with human transmutation?"

"Because," Treize said darkly, "there is a significant rebound for failing." Treize looked Shin in the eyes, "Tell me, Shin." He said, "What could possibly be the equivalent of a human soul?"

…

Within a year Shin was already using alchemy more advanced than some of the adepts in the city. Though there were very few of them, most of them elderly, they still gave Shin some cunning advice on how to be the best alchemist. He had taken up some odd jobs due to his skill.

It got dark quick and the crescent moon shined down on Rush Valley shedding light in the shadows. On his way back to the house he was stopped in the street by a man with a broken saw blade who had asked Shin for repairs. Shin clapped his hands together, "Sure thing!" He said smiling, as he turned on the light outside "Let me just draw a transmutation circle and fix it up!" When he touched the saw to examine it, a blue flash quickly mended the broken blade. Shin jumped back he was startled at the transmutation.

"You didn't even use a circle!" the man said equally surprised. "How did you do that?"

"I-I don't know." Shin said, barely managing to choke the words out of his mouth. The man left him, saying thank you and offered him 826 cents, but Shin politely declined. He went to the back of the house and stared at his hands in the light, he pondered how he was able to transmute without a circle. He remembered when fixing the blade he clapped his hands out of readiness and already pictured what the blade would look like as a whole. _That's it! I clapped my hands and envisioned what I was going to do! _He thought, as the sudden clarity hit him.

Shin clapped his hands and pressed them on the ground; a stone slab shot up from the ground quickly and stood a foot over Shin. "Ah, so that's how I do it." He said aloud; he pressed his hands back together and returned the slab back to the earth. He quietly went back inside and crawled into bed and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Year Two

_Chapter Three :: Year Two_

_You do not yet know what lies beyond the door and there is so very much to learn…_

Shin flexed his automail arm; it had been two years since his surgery and today marked the day he was dropped in Amestris. Despite his condition he didn't even wait a year before he began training on his arms, he did routine calf raises and leg workouts every morning to make sure he didn't fall out of shape. His black hair had grown much longer than he thought it would, it went past his ears and now was touching his shoulders. Shin began to do pushups in his bedroom; Shin took a breath, he wasn't tired but he could feel the tingly sensations of the muscles tightening in his chest. For a seventeen year old, he was in fantastic shape for his age; mind you his legs had gone through two years of constant training even though the rehabilitation period hadn't passed yet.

Shin headed downstairs and walked outside the front door, the sun was beating down on his face. It felt good, a warm smile formed on his face as he walked into the market of Rush Valley, the small town was bustling with newcomers, both in need of checkups and new parts. It was a good sight to see,

"Yo, Shin!" a voice called out. Shin spun around to see who called his name; it was Frank from Frank's Automail repairs. He had met Shin 2 months after his surgery when he came to Treize's house in search of new parts. "Is Treize around? My hammer broke in two I was wondering if I could borrow his just for a few hours" Frank said holding the two pieces of the hammer to Shin.

Shin looked at it, "I can fix it, just give it here." Frank was confused, but handed the 17 year old the pieces of the hammer. Shin laid them of the ground and clapped his hands. He pressed his hands on the ground a thin blue circle appeared around the hammer and in a quick flash of stunning blue light it was repaired. "There, good as new!" Shin said beaming.

The man took the hammer, thanked Shin, and left. Shin went back to the house, Treize had returned and Wynn was sitting at the table with him eating lunch. Shin pulled up a chair and began to eat; it was a chicken sandwich with lettuce. This was Wynn's doing alright, Shin could always tell whenever Wynn cooked or Treize did despite their different styles of cooking. After a few minutes of eating Shin spoke up, "Treize," He began, "I'm going to Central, and I want to become a State Alchemist."

Treize paused in everything he was doing; he put his sandwich down and swallowed the last bite. "When did you decide to come to this conclusion?" he asked, maintaining his composure.

"The day I read that book on how to use alchemy." Shin admitted. Treize looked surprised but Shin continued "I always felt like alchemy was going to help me find answers, especially when you told me about the State Alchemists." Shin looked down at his lap, and clenched his automail arm, he could hear the gears inside tightening, "There's a whole archive on books about alchemy that no one else has, if I can just get my hands on that State Certification…"

"You be the Military's lapdog!" Treize snapped.

"I know that!" Shin shot back, "I know, when time of war arrives I'll have no choice but to be used as a human weapon. I read a book lying in your basement it talked about the Ishvalan civil war, I know how it ended. State Alchemists were used as human weapons to end the war quickly." Shin loosened his grip on his legs, "However, there may be something there that can explain my amnesia!"

Treize put one hand over his forehead, leaning back in his chair he said slightly irritated "You're a fool, Shin." Treize stood up; "However," he continued "if that is what you truly wish, who am I to stop you? There's a train leaving for Central in the next hour…get on it," Shin looked away; he couldn't look Treize in the face. He was ashamed to say it but there was still so much he didn't know about the two people that saved his life, even though it was a short two years; he felt close to them…like family.

"Wynn." Treize said cleaning up the dishes. Wynn looked at her father "You're going with him."

Wynn's face shot wide open with surprise, and disapproval. "Why me!" she protested, "Why do I have to go? Who's going to help you take care of the shop? What if—"

"Enough." Treize said calmly interjecting "Shin can't take care of the automail by himself; the most he can do now is oil it. What if something goes wrong with it? Do you really want another mechanic to take a look at it? Messing with your work?"

Wynn's face tightened "No, I wouldn't want something screwing with the design. It took me two summers to make that model it's one of a kind!" She turned to Shin and nodded "I'll go, besides, you'll probably fall apart without me!" she joked.

"Yeah, right" Shin said playfully a smirk cracked across his face.

Shin went upstairs and packed his things and took an extra suitcase that Treize gave him, he said goodbye to Treize and thanked him for everything

"Don't be a stranger now! You call me if you need anything!" Those were Treize's last words before he shut the door behind him.

Shin and Wynn headed for the train station. The train was leaving in the next fifteen minutes; they paid the fare and got their ticket, and boarded the train. Shin walked past a few rows and sat near the back, Wynn sat beside him lugging her suitcase of tools and clothes with her.

"So..." Shin began. Wynn looked at him

"So...what?" she asked.

"I've never been to Central before, have you?"

"Only once, I was little but I still remember what Central Headquarters looks like. It's a big place; it makes Rush Valley look like a small market town,"

Shin laughed at the thought. The train lurched forward, catching him off-guard. Shin was feeling a little tired so he rested his head on the window, the sound of the train got quieter and quieter until it all became muted.

"Shin! Shin, wake up we're here!" Wynn's voice spoke in Shin's ear. Shin let out a big yawn and stretched his arms, it was a long train ride and his body was still stiff.

The two disembarked the train and left the station, Shin took Wynn's heavy toolbox and began asking for directions for a hotel near Central HQ. A man told him of the Cascade Hotel which was on the corner of 8th and Fennell, Shin thanked the man and the two booked in the hotel.

To Shin's great surprise the hotel expenses were already covered, and there was already a room set out for the two of them.

"Ah, Miss Barton, your father expected you to get here around this time. Welcome!" the concierge said to Wynn.

_Miss Barton? Who's that?_ Shin thought

"Thank you." Wynn replied. Shin walked up to room seven and opened the door with the key, it crept open. The room was quite large with two beds neatly made and a radio in the corner, one bathroom and a closet.

"Miss Barton?" Shin asked.

"It's my late mother's last name, my father's is Camara." Wynn replied.

Shin set his things at the door and opened his suitcase; he needed something good to wear to Central HQ. He noticed a new article of clothing he had never seen before, it was a white coat with a crescent moon, outlined in white, on the right shoulder. The outfit also came with a black top and pants and light combat boots.

"Treize, I owe you one" Shin said to himself. He quickly got dressed and departed for HQ. When he got to the front desk he was asked for identification

"Shin Maxwell?" the soldier asked "You have an examination taking place right now, if you follow me to the exam hall"

Shin was surprised; he wondered who set him up for an exam. It couldn't be Treize, he was against the idea of Shin becoming a State Alchemist, and it couldn't be Wynn...could it?

The man stopped at a set of small doors and opened them. It was almost like a lecture hall with the way everything was set up there was a large table at the front of the room and row ascended all the way to where Shin was standing. Shin walked down the steps and the official directed him to the alphabetized seating plan, he would be sitting in the 'M' row. He glanced at the test just briefly, it was all multiple choice.

"You may now begin the exam! Good luck!" a voice called out from the front of the room.

Shin dove right into the test with his natural gift for comprehension and studying alchemy and science for two year prior. He got stumped on a few questions like "Nitrogen constitutes what percentage of the Earth's atmosphere? 42%, 21%, 79%, 43%" He knew that 42 percent and 43 percent were automatically wrong so he narrowed it down to two options already. He got frustrated and guessed and chose 79 percent. Then there were obvious questions like "Which substance is the most reactive?" _Sodium, easy question. Next. _Shin told himself.

An hour and a half passed and a bell rang, a voice notified everyone that they had another half an hour, Shin spend the time very carefully examining and reviewing the rest of his answers. The second bell rang letting everyone know that their time was up and they had to hand in their tests. He was told to report back to Central at 1400 hours to see if he passed the exam or not.

Shin left the examination hall and went back to the hotel and open the room he was staying in, Wynn was sitting on the bed listening to the news on the radio broadcast. Shin let out an exhausted sigh,

"How'd it go?" Wynn asked, her eyes fixed on Shin's

"I finished, but it wasn't easy. I froze up on a few questions but managed to get it together near the end" Shin said hanging his jacket up in the closet next to the door.

Wynn snorted "Those books back home and around the city didn't teach you anything?"

"That's the thing," Shin began walking to the bedside "This test, was like taking a university grade test on science and physics. Like I said it wasn't easy, but I understood it." Shin sat down on the bed and fell backwards; he was so tired he could pass out right about now.

"Speaking of books, have some of your memories returned to you?"

"Hell if I know," Shin began, resting his hands behind his head "Actually," he paused realizing something, "I've been having this odd reoccurring dream. It starts out with a black void, I am floating inside of the void then everything goes blank and I hear a voice call out from the darkness: 'One who knows nothing can understand nothing.'"

"What about that girl you spoke of? The one that looks like me?"

"Well, that's the thing the more I dove into alchemy, the less often she would show up. When I become a State Alchemist I'm going to check out the archives and see if they have anything relating on my amnesia. I'm pretty confidence I'll find at least something relating to it. People in Rush Valley always said that Central's library is the biggest in the country"

"I'm sure you'll find something, Shin," Wynn replied, gently stroking Shin's automail.

"Thanks."

"What did they say about the automail?"

"They didn't," Shin snickered "I had it covered the whole time,"

"But won't they see it during the practical?"

"Yeah, if they ask about it here's what I'm going to say. 'Back in Rush Valley there was an unfortunate mining incident with a buzz saw which severed my arm. I requested automail a week later'"

Shin smiled, it was a good plan hopefully the officials wouldn't doubt the story. The phone rang it was one of the military men who was overseeing the written exam. Shin was asked to report back to Central HQ and come see his test. Shin put the phone down on the receiver and turned to Wynn, "Central just called they want me to see my test. Hopefully I passed."

"I have complete faith in you, Shin." Wynn said, her deep blue eyes shimmering in the light.

Shin walked out of the hotel and made his way back to Central and walked through the front doors, he was quickly greeted by the officer he already met when he first came. He directed him to the reviewing room; ironically, it was the exact same room Shin took the exam in.

"If you've passed the exam please follow me." the official said signaling to the applicants.

Shin picked up his examination paper and a beaming smile lit up his face. He aced the test scoring 85%; this was a surprise he wasn't very good with tests. Shin followed the solider into the next room, Shin could tell the interview was next it; was only him and a few other applicants passed the exam.

The official stopped at a set of doors and turned to the group. He held a clipboard up to his eyes and flipped through it, "Alright," he paused, "Shin Maxwell? You're up first, good luck!"

Shin swallowed hard and opened the room doors, it was dark and only a single spotlight illuminated a golden three legged chair; the rest of the room appeared vacant.

"Take a seat." A voice called out, "Alchemy is about balance. If you have the gift, it will not refuse you."

Shin walked towards the chair and sat down, the chair wobbled at first but Shin quickly regained balance.

"Now then, tell us why you want to become a State Alchemist for our military." the voice said.

Shin pondered the question for a second then carefully responded, "I need to set things right within this country, and seek a better understanding of myself. I believe alchemy is the science for that. Furthermore, I believe that with my skills I will be a valuable asset to the military,"

"That's good! Very good answer, Shin. You are dismissed; report back here at 0900 hours for the practical exam." the voice said.

Shin walked out of the interview room and went right for the exit. He returned back to the hotel where Wynn awaited his arrival. The room door opened and when Shin closed the door Wynn was already in his face. "Whoa!" he exclaimed.

"How did the interview go?" she asked

"Better than I expected. The person who was speaking seemed pleased with my answer to his question. The practical is tomorrow at 9 in the morning; hopefully luck will be on my side again."

Shin sat down on the bed face down. Drowsiness quickly overcame him and he drifted off to sleep.

Shin awoke the next morning he checked the clock it was only 8 in the morning. He still had a bit of time to get there but he wanted to get there early to set a good impression; he had been doing that for every time he had to show up. He jumped in the shower quickly and washed himself when he got out he quickly changed and jumped out of the bathroom only to be stopped by Wynn. She held a yellow towel and was in the way of the door.

"You didn't dry your automail!" she nagged.

"Oh…" Shin looked at his left arm realizing now that the metal was still wet. Wynn spent the next 7 minutes making sure Shin's arm was bone dry in every part of the automail.

Shin thanked Wynn as she jostled him out the door, "You'd better pass that practical exam!" she said shutting the door behind him. Shin noticed he forgot his boots,

"Hey Wynn—"

The door opened quickly enough for a crack to be shown and Shin's boots were placed outside. The door shut very quickly right after. Shin looked to his left and noticed that the concierge was staring at him oddly. He smiled awkwardly as he slipped on his boots heading out of the hotel doors to Central.

He was early much earlier than he expected. The practical didn't start for another twenty minutes, however the soldier he had seen for the past two days was nowhere in sight so he had to ask where the practical examination hall was. He proceeded to where he was told and waited outside the door there wasn't a bench in sight so he was forced to stand. Shin twiddled his thumbs anxiously awaiting some form of official to show up.

Twenty minutes has passed and an official walked up to Shin who was sitting on the ground tired from standing perfectly straight, "Shin Maxwell?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Shin responded standing on his two feet.

"You're here for the practical exam right?"

"That's right."

"Please, after you." the official said motioning to the door.

The examination doors crept open slowly and light shot through. It was a large hall with two balconies on each side of the room, there was a small podium on the far side of the room. Shin saw the examiner there, he was an average sized man about 5'7 with glasses and wore the same uniform as the official. There were spectators in the balconies that wore similar uniforms; he could probably guess that they were spectating him.

"You may begin when you are ready, Shin. Do you need something to draw transmutation circles with?" the examiner asked Shin.

"Yeah, I'll need a piece of chalk," Shin quickly replied.

An official quickly handed Shin what he had requested. Shin placed it on the ground, some strange looks were spotted. The official asked slightly unsure, "Do you know what the chalk is used for?"

Shin glared at the man "I know what I'm doing!" Shin clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground; a stone slab erupted from the examination's floor and broke apart instantly. The resulting slab was a life sized model of Shin posing with a pointed finger; he had used the chalk to add detail to his facial features and other areas of his model body.

"He didn't even use a transmutation circle!" the official said very surprised. He looked to the examiner, and nodded in affirmation.

"Shin," the man began "Please follow me, this way"

The man walked out of the room and Shin followed him. They went down several hallways until they reached the destination. The doors were massive; much larger than the regular ones around Central. The official knocked on the door a calm voice answered back,

"You may enter."

The official opened the door; it was a rather large room. There was a man sitting in a seat directly in front of Shin, he had an eye patch over his left eye.

Shin tapped the official on the shoulder, "Who's that?" he whispered.

The man shot back quickly, "That's his excellency Führer King Bradley!"

Shin turned his eyes on Bradley, "So this is the Führer."

"You may leave now, First Lieutenant Blitz" Bradley said in a calm tone.

The man saluted and left the room leaving Shin on his own with the Führer, the door slowly closed until the subtle click sound was made, ensuring that the door was sealed.

"I've heard quite a lot about you, Shin Maxwell. Brigadier General Treize Camara spoke quite highly of you." Bradley said lacing his fingers underneath his chin.

Shin's eyes shot open with astonishment, it was Treize all along! It was him who paid for the hotel and the reason he was set up with the examination process before he even got in Central HQ!

_But...Treize never even told me he was in the military. And with such a high rank too! What the hell is he doing fixing automail?_ Shin thought still dumbfounded with this new information.

"You're the second applicant to have passed the examination without the use of a transmutation circle," Bradley said writing on a sheet of paper, he appeared to be signing his signature. Shin's face lit up with joy, "Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric was the first" Bradley finished by slipping the paper in an envelope and motioning Shin to come closer to his desk. He handed Shin the envelope and a small box "Congratulations, Shin you are now a State Alchemist. This silver pocket watch is proof of your identification as a State Alchemist. Your code name will be Luna"

Shin tilled his head looking at Bradley "Luna, sir? Isn't that a bit…silly?"

Bradley let out a hearty chuckle and replied, "Quite the contrary, Shin! From what I've gathered from Treize, you appear to have a very special talent, exclusive only to you. Your transmutations become both more efficient and more powerful in the moonlight." Bradley paused and stood up. "I'm also assigning you to Eastern Headquarters and you'll be under the jurisdiction of Coronel Mustang. I trust there are no complaints?" Bradley asked.

Shin saluted proudly and announced in a strong voice "No, sir!"

Shin left the room and stood outside the hallway opening the portrait style envelope and read it over:

_This official document certifies that the nation of Amestris, prefecture of_ _the __Generalissimo__appoints the name LUNA to SHIN MAXWELL in the name of _Führer_ King Bradley._

_The State Alchemist shall follow all orders and policies of the military._

_A research assessment examination shall be held once every year. In the case that the State Alchemist does not show signs of progress as a result of the examination, he shall be discharged from the services of State Alchemist._

_The State Alchemist is entitled to the use of ample research funds, unrestricted access to classified documentation, access to various governmental facilities, and a military rank equal to that of "Major"._

_**- King Bradley**_

Shin quickly shoved the document back inside the envelope and rushed outside on Central HQ, ran across the street full speed. He ran straight for the hotel, blasted through the doors and scrambled to room seven flying through the door. Wynn was sitting on the bed staring up at the ceiling.

She turned around when she heard the door swing open "How'd it go, Shin? Did you pass?" she asked anxiously.

Shin beamed as he showed Wynn his pocket watch. The girl ran towards the new State Alchemist and crashed into his 5'8" frame nearly knocking him into the hallway.

Shin laughed to himself, "Get your things together, Wynn" Shin began still smiling, and the taste of victory still in his mouth "We're going to East City!"


	4. Departure

_Chapter Four :: Departure_

The duo was on the move again; they quickly left for the train station but not before thanking the concierge for the stay. They swiftly ducked into the streets of Central and made their way to the familiar train station; again they boarded the train. This time Shin was carrying both bags; his training really paid off because had this trip have been a few years ago these bags would feel much heavier than now. The train was pretty packed; there was almost no room for Wynn or Shin to sit down. Shin navigated to the back of the train; there was one spot left which appeared to be open until he got closer: the space was occupied only leaving two seats left.

"Oh, sorry!" Shin apologized to the people sitting down. Looking closer at the strangers he realized one of them was in a suit of armor and the other wore a red coat and similar black attire to Shin. He had golden blond hair and eyes; he also looked about a few years younger than Shin. "Is it okay for us to sit here?" Shin asked.

"Yeah, it's fine." the boy responded. Shin put Wynn's things down on the ground and moved to the window side. Wynn followed suite; the fabric in her crimson jacket rubbed against back of the cushioned seat making a 'zip' sound. Once the two were settled there was a brief moment of idle silence. Shin looked at the boy's hands; they had white gloves over them and on the right one he would see between the sections of material that his right arm wasn't flesh.

_It's automail…_ Shin thought to himself as he furrowed he brow.

"So, who are you guys? What brings you to Central?" Wynn said, breaking the deathly quiet air.

The boy smirked. "I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! And this is my brother Alphonse; we're on our way back to East City. We had some business to take care of Central." Shin's eyes opened when he heard the name _Fullmetal? This is the same alchemist __Führer mentioned, the one who can transmute without circles, just like me._He thought.

"The name's Shin Maxwell; I'm from Rush Valley. This is my automail mechanic, Wynn." Shin said gesturing to the girl on his left. An expression of urgency was noticed on Edward's face.

"Automail? Did you have some sort of accident?" he asked Shin.

Shin wanted to tell Edward the whole truth, especially since he wanted to know the real reason why he had automail himself. He could only speculate that he had a limb amputated, but that wouldn't explain why he was able to transmute without circles. Frankly, Shin had no idea he could transmute without circles until two years ago and still, he didn't even know fully how it worked.

"I don't remember." Shin said looking to his boots, "I suffer from a severe case of amnesia, though it's getting a little better. After bringing me back from the brink of death, Wynn and her father gave me an automail arm." Ed looked concerned, but his gaze shifted to Shin's pocket. He noticed a shimmer of silver in Shin's pocket he thought to himself, _A State Alchemist?_

Shin took out the envelope he was given by Bradley and read it. He slipped the paper back in the envelope and sealed it. "Luna, that's my codename that was given to me," he said, putting the envelope back in his bag. "It's not as intimidating as yours, Fullmetal, but it will have to do." Shin said, smiling at Edward. Edward gave a respectful look to Shin but didn't say anything. "So, you can transmute without circles?" Shin asked.

"Yeah that's right, do you need a demonstration?" he asked proudly. Shin shook his head and said locking his eyes towards Edward,

"Ah, it's quite alright! I just wanted to see if the rumors were true, that's all!" Shin said as he laughed lightly.

The train chugged along the tracks. Shin began to go into deep thought. He needed to find a way back but since he was in Eastern Headquarters it would be harder for him to get the information he needed. East City did have an impressive collection of books, however, it was nothing compared to Central.

East City began to come into view, before long the train stopped at the station and the passengers began to disembark. Edward and Alphonse began to get up but Shin stopped them.

"One more thing," he began "Do you have any idea who Colonel Roy Mustang is?" Edward's face gave an unimpressed stare.

"Great, what do you need with the Colonel?" he asked

"I'm under his jurisdiction; I'm to report to him as soon as I get in"

Edward showed him where HQ was located and Shin made his way in. There was a small area where Alphonse and Wynn agreed to wait until Ed and Shin were finished with Mustang. When they got to Mustang's office, Ed just opened the door and walked right in; not even hesitating, Shin followed behind him and closed the door.

Mustang was sitting in a chair across from Edward and Shin; he had short, ear length jet black hair, charcoal eyes, and wore similar gloves to what Edward wore. He closed the book he was looking at and turned to the boys.

"Ah, Fullmetal, welcome back." he paused. "Did you find anything of value in Lior?"

Edward walked forwards to the Colonel "Yeah, there was a false priest there conning people. He said he was going to create an army of believers who were not afraid to die…" His voice trailed off "Or something like that. I brought him down and exposed him to the rest of the city; the stone he was using to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange…" Ed paused and clenched his fist. "It was a fake! After all this searching we finally found a lead, and it turned out to be a dead end."

Mustang took a file from the top right hand corner of his desk and opened it. "I wouldn't call it quits just yet boys, there's a man living here in East City named Shou Tucker the Sewing Life Alchemist. He practically wrote the book on how to bring things to life; he earned his state certification when he transmuted a talking chimera." Mustang dropped the file on the desk in front of Fullmetal. "You can drop by to ask him a few questions; he is the closest alchemist who has any knowledge of bio-alchemy."

"Now," Mustang began, "the next order of business is introducing me to this newcomer; I don't believe we've met. You are…" his charcoal eyes locked onto Shin's mysterious pale blue eyes.

"It's Shin." he said, breaking the lock between the two. "Shin Maxwell, the Luna Alchemist." Shin was proud to flex that title around; he had to make it stick and make a good first impression, especially with the higher ups.

"I got a call from Central before you got here…" Mustang began now standing up with one hand in his pocket. "You're quite the talented alchemist; the Führer sees a lot of potential in you."

"Thank you, sir." Shin said bowing his head.

Mustang began to walk to Edward while maintaining eye contact with Shin "Fullmetal is heading to the Tucker residence today; you're welcome to join him if you have any questions about bio-alchemy."

Shin nodded his head in affirmation. "Thank you, sir. I will take you up on that offer."

"Good, I'll send someone to give you a ride."

The door creaked open and Ed and Shin walked through. The sound of rugged, hollow, metal footsteps approached the two boys. It was Alphonse and Wynn.

"Brother," Alphonse began, his voice echoing through the suit of armor "how'd it go? What did the Colonel have to say?"

"He said we're going to the Tucker estate; he might have some knowledge on bio-alchemy"

"Which means we may find out a way to get our bo—" Edward gave a stern look to Alphonse which he quickly understood as 'Another time, another place'

"Also," Edward began, "we're bringing this guy with us." he said motioning to Shin who was standing right next to him.

"I have a name!" he snapped.

"Oh right, Shin. Or should I call you Luna?" Edward joked, stifling a small chuckle.

"Says the micro-midget." Shin shot back.

Something like a thread snapped and could be heard all the way down the hallway; a vein appeared on the left side of Edward's forehead. His right arm swung fast, but Shin reacted quickly and blocked the punch with his left arm. A loud clang echoed through the hallway.

"DON'T CALL ME SHORT!" Edward erupted with rage.

Wynn noticed the design of Edward's right arm, his automail arm; it was very similar to the way she modeled Shin's arm. She walked over to the fuming alchemist, totally unfazed by the fit of rage he unleashed on Shin and took a hold of his right arm. She rolled up the sleeve and confirmed her suspicions, "Ha! Just as I thought, the way the rail aligns and grips with the wrist, the feeling of that sturdy housing and the lightweight material used to make the arm. This is top craftsmanship; a work of art." The young alchemist looked puzzled, with all that gear-head talk you could swear that Wynn was related to— "Winry Rockbell is it?" Wynn started, interrupting Edward's thought process "Yep this is definitely my cousin's work! No doubt about it!"

Edward went wide. "Winry's your cousin?" Edward blurted out. Wynn smiled at him, sliding down the bright red sleeve back to where she found it.

"We're distant cousins, on my mother's side that is. To be honest we've never actually had a proper introduction; my original plan for the past few weeks was to gather enough money to head down to Resembool," Her voice slightly weakened, "that's when Shin arrived, and everything changed."

Shin didn't say anything; he wanted to say how much he appreciated everything Wynn had done for him so far but he refrained from doing so. The four began walking towards the exit, when they reached the main doors there was a car outside already waiting for them. Ed sat in the passenger's seat and Shin, Alphonse and Wynn crammed into the back seat. It was a very tight squeeze since Alphonse was large and almost took up two seats. Fortunately the ride there didn't take very long which was about ten minutes at best. When they arrived at the Tucker estate Mustang walked the four to the doorstep and rang the bell. The sound of footsteps approached and the door opened. A man stood at the door with feint stubble on his chin reaching to both sides of his jaw, small glasses hovering on the end of his nose and short chestnut colored hair.

"Oh, hello there, Colonel." Tucker said pushing up his glasses to the bridge of his nose. Faint bags under his eyes suggested that he hadn't had any sleep for a couple of nights; the tension in his eyes suggested that he had been straining his eyes, possibly from looking at a textbook for hours.

Mustang slipped one hand in his pocket; he smiled at Tucker "We have a few alchemists here who would like to meet you. May we come in?"

Tucker's expression changed; he was happy to get visitors. "Yes! Please do come in!"

His house was large, but it was very messy. He led the five into the kitchen where they sat down, everyone except for Alphonse who insisted that he'd stand when Shin offered his seat. The dishes were literally piling up in the sink_; that's about three weeks' worth of wash!_ Shin thought in his head.

"It was never like this," Tucker said darkly, "my wife used to live with us before we moved here; it was a rough life of poverty. One day she just got fed up, and left leaving myself and Nina." Tucker said reaching down to the little girl at his side. Shin had completely missed her. Nina was a small, cute looking girl with light brown hair tied in pigtails at the bottom. She had blue eyes and wore a light pink top with blue overalls; she looked to be no older than four years old. Tucker cleared his throat and continued. "Shortly after, I attained my state certification by transmuting a talking chimera. Unfortunately it died shortly after. I'm sorry you're too late to see it." Tucker interlocked his fingers on the table. "Well now, I've told you everything. Now it's your turn. Why are you interested in bio-alchemy? It's what we alchemists do; this is Equivalent Exchange after all..."

"Ah, well you see. Ed's—" Mustang began. Ed silenced him with a respectful hand on his shoulder,

"Mr. Tucker does have a point Colonel" Edward said beginning to unbutton his shirt. He told Tucker everything, Shin was amazed! Edward had attempted human transmutation, and survived the rebound! He escaped with two missing limbs while Alphonse lost his whole body, and had his soul bound to a suit of armor. Wynn held her mouth in disbelief; she couldn't believe what she was hearing; Shin had gone through a tough time when he got here but this was a new level of insanity.

"I see…your mother, eh? That must have been rough," Tucker said, sipping the tea he had made prior to the arrival. He turned to Shin. "What about you? Tell me your story, heard you're the new prodigy Shin Maxwell was it?" Shin nodded his head,

"You're well informed Mr. Tucker" Shin said, also unbuttoning his shirt "My story is more or less the same…" Shin flexed his left arm, and the gears inside tightened against the tension. Shou Tucker nearly dropped his cup; he couldn't believe his ears; was there now TWO cases of human transmutation? "Don't get it wrong, I never attempted human transmutation. There was a mining accident back in Rush Valley a few years back. I escaped with my life albeit with one arm missing. Wynn—the girl next to me—found me on the side of the mine, unconscious and my left arm missing. Her and her father, Treize, patched me up and gave me an automail arm."

"Because I've told my superiors that Edward's body was lost in the Eastern conflict, I'm asking you not to mention anything about the human transmutation incident." Mustang said bowing his head.

Tucker rose from his seat taking his cup with him "I wouldn't want the military to waste talent such as Edward's. Please follow me." He placed his cup by the sink with all the dirty dishes and paced out of the room and down the hall. He opened a large door; light burst into the darkness when he switched the lights on. "This is my study, feel free to look around!" Shin and Edward mouths' dropped to the floor, the study was huge! There were at least a thousand books just sitting there waiting to be read, Shin dove for the nearest bookshelf as did Edward and Alphonse.

"I'll send someone to come get you in the evening" Mustang said. Edward and Shin were hard focused into the books they were reading.

"I don't think they can hear you anymore. It's amazing how focused those three are." Tucker pushed up his glasses. "Quite a couple of prodigies."

At 6pm Shin and Wynn left the Tucker estate and found another place to stay. Due to Treize's connections they two were able to stay for free again. They unloaded their things inside the hotel and collapsed on opposite beds. "Hey Wynn…" Shin began; the sound of snoring was heard. Shin smiled and adjusted his head on the pillow; he figured he'd be back at the Tuckers the day after tomorrow to look at more books. He might as well get a good night's sleep.


	5. Mortal Sin

_Chapter Five :: Mortal Sin_

Shin woke up in the middle of the night; he couldn't sleep, he wanted to go back to the Tucker estate and looks at more books. There was so much information there, he could learn more about alchemy there, or why he could transmute without a circle. But he was getting ahead of himself; he rolled out of bed and quietly got dressed. He walked towards the door silently opening and closing it on his way out making sure not to accidently wake up Wynn. Sitting on the floor now he laced up his jet black boots tying them extra tight so they didn't feel loose, he stood up and headed down the dimly light hallway walking past the concierge's desk, no one saw him leaving. The pale dim moonlight illuminated the sky when Shin stood outside, he opened his pocket watch and read the time it was three in the morning, and he closed the watch and slipped it back in his pocket. Shin walked down Bay street and headed to the library, when he got there he tugged on the doors, he was surprised; he didn't think they would be open especially at this hour considering most people are fast asleep.

There was a woman snoozing on the reception desk, Shin tapped her shoulder lightly "Hey, I'd like to task a look at archives."

The woman woke up suddenly; her light brown hair furrowed over here face masking the fact that she was till half asleep. "You'll need a State Certification for that, do you have any identification?"

Shin showed her the silver pocket watch; she nodded her head and pointed him towards the archives, "Everything you need is in there. Just don't forget to put everything back when you're done with it." Shin thanked the woman and headed for the archives, he needed to learn more about alchemy; furthermore he needed to know how he was able to transmute without circles, he understood that he could do it but he didn't understand the theory behind it.

A title caught his eye while walking through the aisles, "Alchemy Extended" he quickly grabbed the book of the bookshelf and began to skim through it. He could analyze the information quickly, just like before it was almost as if he was reading it again. Then he grasped an idea, a concept founded in the book, he spoke aloud while holding the book in one hand. "In alchemy, a circle symbolizes power and control. The formula is written inside the circle so by pressing your hand on it you activate the constructional formula. Now...in theory, the hands are just disconnected rings of the circle." Shin rested the book on the table behind him "So if I press my hands together, and think about the formula I want to create inside of me...when my hands connect not only does it complete the circle...it activates it as well." Shin clapped his hands together he nodded his head in approval, it made much more sense this way but this was just one little piece of the puzzle. He still needed more to know about alchemy, and most importantly breaking his amnesia.

Shin went through the aisles and picked up multiple books on alchemy, including the one he just read. He checked the books out of the library and returned back to the hotel, he silently made his way back inside, Wynn was still sound asleep. He took his bedside light and rested it on the floor and turned it on, he began to read one of the books he checked out from the library. He kept reading and reading, learning more and more each sentence he read it was like he was learning something he had forgotten long ago and everything was making perfect sense. He enjoyed that feeling so he kept on reading. After a while Shin's eyes began to burn, he had been focusing on the book for a while he looked at his watch it read 7am in the morning he had been reading for at least four and a half hours! He figured it was time for a break; his legs had fallen asleep while he was reading and were very stiff when he tried to get up. He managed to crawl into bed and before he knew it he was sound asleep.

When Shin awoke it was bright outside, the sunlight was hitting him in the eyes. He looked over his shoulder, Wynn wasn't there he assumed she got up and left. She didn't leave, she was in the bathroom fixing her hair Shin caught a glimpse of her she was wearing tight black jeans and a light red top.

She turned around when she heard Shin moving on the bed, "Oh, Shin you're awake? I'm going back to the Tucker estate to play with Nina, did you want to come? Alphonse and Edward are already there."

Shin groggily nodded his head, he was still half asleep but wanted to go back to Mr. Tuckers house to look at any more books he might have on alchemy and expand on what he already knew. He grabbed his books and headed out the door with Wynn.

When they arrived at the house, the front gate was unlocked and Shin could hear happy shouts from the other side of the house. Nina, Alphonse and Edward were playing with Alexander, the family dog. Edward stopped when he saw Shin,

"Good afternoon, Edward" Shin said politely.

"Hey, Shin welcome back" he replied.

Edward and Shin studied the whole day, after about 3 hours of studying alchemy Shin told Edward his finding of why they were able to transmute without the need of circles, Edward chuckled, "Thanks, but Al and I already knew this. Our teacher taught us it when we asked how she was able to transmute without circles." he paused for a second, "Come to think about it, I haven't met a single person who's as strong as her, both in terms of mental and physical strength."

"Who's your teacher?" Shin asked folding his hands.

"Her name is Izumi Curtis, she lives in Dublith"

"Oh she's from Dublith? That's two towns away from Rush Valley!" Shin said excited, he quickly smirked "If this teacher is as good as you say she is, I'd love to be taught by her!"

Edward sighed and rested his chin in his palm "Fat chance, she doesn't take on students."

The clock bell chimed, it was already 6pm and Shin was getting sleepy. He stood up from his chair and took a big stretch it felt good having the blood flow back in his legs. "I'm going to head out now, Wynn's fallen asleep and I'm getting tired myself." Shin walked over to the table opposite of Ed and himself and woke Wynn up.

Edward moved his chair back and got up as well, "Yeah, I think I'm going to head out as well, I think the Colonel might want to see us tomorrow morning." He walked over to the second aisle of books and saw Nina there "Bye, Nina…we'll play again later!" Shin said goodbye to the little girl as well, he wanted to say goodbye to Mr. Tucker as well but he was didn't know where he was. Shin figured he was still doing a bit of research in the evening and he should trouble him. Edward, Alphonse, Shin and Wynn both took their separate ways and said goodbye they all agreed to meet there the next morning for the third day.

Shin awoke in the morning feeling well rested he got dressed and decided to wake Wynn up so she could meet the Elric brothers again at the Tucker estate.

"I'm too tired," she groaned still half asleep, "I'll meet you there in a little while I just need a couple more hours to sleep."

"Ha, okay! Don't be late; you know how much Nina loves to play with you!" Shin responded happily. He bounded out the door; he still had a bit of time left to be at the house before the set time so he jogged a bit to the house. It was a cloudy day and it looked like it could rain any second, he needed to get inside or he might get soaked. When he got there he could see Alphonse and Edward coming into view.

"Oh, hey Shin!" Alphonse greeted "Where's Wynn I thought she said she was coming with you?"

"She's sleeping back at the hotel, she was dog-tired." Shin replied. "We better not keep Nina waiting." he said smirking.

The three headed to the front door, Shin went to go knock on the door but realized it was slightly ajar.

"Hello, Mr. Tucker! Thanks for having us over again!" Alphonse called out; there was no reply so Shin pushed the door open they walked down the hallway "Mr. Tucker?" Alphonse called out again, the house was dead silent.

"Hey, Nina!" Edward called to the little girl; there was still no answer it was like the whole house was empty.

"Is there anyone even here?" Shin called out, he opened the study doors light blasted inside and he could see Mr. Tucker crouching next to what looked to be Alexander. "Oh! Mr. Tucker I guess you are home!"

"Oh yes!" Tucker responded in a raspy tone "I did it boys, I finally did it! I created a chimera that can understand the human tongue!" he turned to the three boys "Here, let me show you!" turning back to the chimera he said "You see that? That person over there is Edward and his brother"

"That person Ed…ward." the chimera responded.

"Yes! That's very good! Well done!" Tucker congratulated the chimera.

"That's amazing! It can actually talk!" Edward said surprised.

"I don't believe this…this is remarkable!" Shin said just as surprised.

Tucker snickered "This is perfect! Now I don't have to worry about losing my certification!" Shin and Edward both took a closer look at the chimera; it had a light chestnut mane and pale white fur.

"That person, Edward." the chimera repeated. Shin and Edward were awestruck, "That person, Edward" the chimera repeated again "That person, Edward" it paused and bared its teeth as if to devilishly grin, "Big brother Ed!" Edward's eyes went wide with horror. Shin's heart skipped a beat, he couldn't breathe and his face was hot; he could almost feel Edward having the same expression.

"Mr. Tucker?" Edward began in a calm voice "When was your research on talking chimeras approved of and when did you get your license?"

Tucker thought for a moment "That was two years ago," he rubbed the stubble on his chin.

Shin stood up, still looking at the chimera "You said your wife also left you two years ago as well, right?"

"Yes, that's correct what are you getting on abou—"

"Just one more question" Edward interrupted "Where are Nina and Alexander?" Alphonse gasped and Shin face filled with rage.

Tucker adjusted his glasses "I hate kids with good instincts like you" Edward slammed Tucker into the wall behind him,

"Oh, so that how it was!" he shouted. "You son of a bitch! How DARE you, you bastard! You used your own wife two years ago? And this time, you used your own daughter and dog to transmute a chimera!" Shin clenched his fist, he wanted to doubt what Edward was saying but the proof was there for all to see, and Edward continued in his rage "Yeah, you can only do so much with animal experimentations! It should be much easier if you used humans isn't that right!"

Tucker sneered at Edward, "Why are you so mad? Haven't the advances mankind has made come from the results of countless experiments on human beings, to use medical science as an example? I thought that as a scientist you—"

"NO FUCKING WAY!" Edward cursed. "Do you think you're going to be forgiven for doing something like this? For…toying with human lives!"

Tucker laughed, "Messing around with human lives you say? You'd know all about that wouldn't you?" Tucker mocked Edward, "Look at you, Fullmetal Alchemist! Look at your leg, your arm, your brother! Those things are also the result of 'messing around with human lives' aren't they?"

"SHUT UP!" Edward scream throwing a right hook to Tucker face, it connect sending the man right to the ground.

His glasses cracked when they hit the ground; he laughed again, "We're the same, you and I!"

"You're wrong!" Edward said gritting his teeth.

"No, I'm not! You saw the opportunity in front you and you just HAD to take it! We had to even though we knew it was banned!" Another right hook connected to Tucker's face his nose was already bleeding and the skin on his bottom lip was broken.

"NO!" Edward shouted punching Tucker again, "I'm not like you!" he punched him again, "I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" he kept punching him; he cocked his right arm back and went to punch Tucker again but was stopped by Alphonse.

"Brother, if you hit him anymore, he'll die."

Edward gritted at Tucker and released him from his grasp, Alphonse helped Edward out of the room and Shin followed.

Tucker grunted, "It's not possible to get things done without first dirtying your hands."

"Mr. Tucker." Shin said darkly "If you keep talking, I'll come over there and shut you up."

They closed the front door behind them and the rain began to fall, they walked toward Eastern Headquarters none of them saying a word. It was a long silent walk to Mustang's office, Shin couldn't begin to explain how he was feeling, he was still furious to what Tucker did to Nina all for the sake of his certification.

_Edward really did it, the taboo, the unforgivable act. He performed human transmutation…and lived to tell the tale._


	6. Scar

_Chapter Six :: Scar_

Shin woke up the next morning early; he needed to get to Eastern Headquarters and talk to Mustang. He left well before Wynn was awake. He couldn't talk to her especially not after what happened yesterday, if she even mentioned Nina's name Tucker's would follow closely after. Shin wanted to go back the Tucker estate and give the alchemist a piece of his mind, the easy way, but he knew that wouldn't do any good and it wouldn't help Nina at all. There was nothing he could do but assess the situation to Mustang directly.

Shin walked into Eastern HQ and headed down the hall directly to Mustang's office. He noticed the Elric brothers further down the hall talking to a woman with light blonde hair held at the top with a hairclip.

As he got closer Edward picked up on the footsteps coming down the hall and turned to Shin's direction, "Oh, it's you. How are you feeling, Shin?" he asked.

"Not so good."

Edward looked down to his feet, and then looked up at Shin. "Shin, this is First Lieutenant Hawkeye, Colonel Mustang's personal assistant."

Shin outstretched his arm. "Shin Maxwell, well met First Lieutenant!"

"Riza Hawkeye," she responded, shaking the young man's hand, "it's a pleasure."

"I came to see Mustang; I personally want to see Tucker go down for his crimes." Shin said resentfully.

"You can't," Riza said, suddenly "He's dead, both Tucker and Nina died that same day. Officially they were killed."

Shin's expression snapped. "Killed? But…by who?"

"I don't know," Riza responded. "I was just about to head over to the crime scene before Edward showed up."

"Take me with you!" Edward said, reaching for Riza as she proceeded down the hall.

"No."

"Why not?"

Riza looked at Edward sternly. "It would be better if you didn't see."

Edward stood there as Riza walked down the hallway towards the door; he walked in the opposite direction and headed for the clock tower with his brother. Shin left as well, Wynn was probably just waking up and he would have to her the horrible news. He walked back to the hotel but stopped when he passed by a newspaper on the ground; its headline caught his eye:

_Serial Killer in East City Targets State Alchemists_

Shin picked up the paper and skimmed through it, his eyes went wide with shock. He dropped the paper and began to race towards where Edward and Alphonse were last spotted; he had to warn him about the serial killer. He got there to the clock tower with haste, but there was no one there just a body on the ground; it looked like it had been blown apart from the inside. Gross. Shin quickly scanned the area and noticed that the stairs leading down to the next area had been destroyed. Shin jumped down the broken steps and followed the destruction down the street he turned the corner and could see Mustang and his men standing in the middle of the road, upon further inspection he could see Edward on the ground with his automail arm completely blown off, and Alphonse a few feet behind him with half of his armor torn apart.

A man with dark shades stood in between them both, he had an X-shaped on his forehead reaching through his eyes.

"That's him: that must be that must be Scar." Shin said quietly to himself.

Scar began to approach Mustang who didn't seem to show any fear at all. Mustang slipped on his gloves proceeding to Scar but was tripped by Hawkeye who let out a barrage of bullets at Scar. Scar dodged the incoming fire and ran for cover. Shin chased after him without any hesitation.

"Shin, wait!" Alphonse called out to the young man.

Shin raced around the wall and confronted Scar who looked at him dead in the eye, "Stay out of this, boy—this doesn't concern you,"

"You did it, didn't you? You're the one killing State Alchemists which means you killed Shou Tucker and his daughter!" Shin said, his face twisting from the anger. "You killed Nina!"

"I returned two souls into the ever loving arms of God that day, and nothing more." Scar responded with open arms. "That chimera was created by alchemy; it was in so much pain and now, because of my actions, it rests in piece."

"Shut up! You still killed her! I'll kill you!" Shin said clasping his hands together, he slammed them on ground, blue light traveled through it and the ground sprouted spikes heading towards Scar. In one quick motion Scar swiped at the spikes with his right arm, totally obliterating them reducing them to rubble.

"What?" Shin replied to the action. He was shocked.

Scar bolted to Shin out stretching his right arm reaching for Shin's face. He almost didn't dodge in time but a quick sidestep saved his life. Shin had to be more careful otherwise he could end up like the other State Alchemists. Shin tried a more defensive attack and attempted to throw up a stone barrier; as soon as it went up a crackle of blue light appeared and a whole burst a hole through revealing Scar's outstretched hand. _How is he able to do that? _Shin thought to himself, dodging another strike from Scar, his hand destroying more of the stone barrier. _That's it! _Shin exclaimed in his head, his eyes going wide in realization. _Alchemy is broken into three parts, Comprehension, Deconstruction, and Reconstruction; this guy is ignoring the last step! But how is he doing that? If I make it out of here alive, I'm going to have to study more! _

"You're just like Edward Elric," Scar began, "preforming your wretched alchemy without a circle. You will suffer the same fate as him!" He bolted towards Shin again but, with quick thinking Shin transmuted his automail into a brass knuckle and threw a punch at Scar's flank, however he was too slow. Scar turned in mid punch and went to grab Shin's left arm but was interrupted when more spikes came flying right for Scar forcing him to evade.

Shin clutched his left arm "Jeez! That was close!" he said scrambling to look for the source of the spikes. A bald man with a thick blonde moustache stood at the end of them he had pair of steel gauntlets with transmutation circles on the back of them.

"Are you alright, young man?" the man asked.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks, but who are you?" Shin responded his heart still racing from the near death experience.

The man chucked lightly and proclaimed in a proud voice, "I'm so glad you asked! It is I, Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist!"

The man grabbed a chuck of rock from Shin's barrier and threw it up into the air; he slammed his fist at the stone transmuting it into an arrowhead spike that flew straight for Scar. The man was quick and dodged it but Armstrong didn't give up; he rushed the man with his hands held close to his body in a boxer's stance. He threw a flurry of punches, but the man with glasses was swift. An officer came to Shin's aid "I'm alright," Shin responded, "Just a little bit shaken up. That guy is really quick!" Armstrong managed to corner the mysterious man and wound up for an overhead swing, but he abruptly disengaged. Three gunshots rang out through the street; blood could be seen underneath the man.

"Did you get him?" Mustang asked.

Hawkeye shook her head and lowered her rifle. "He's far too fast. I only grazed him with one shot." Hawkeye responded. The man's glasses were on the ground. His eyes were revealed they were blood red; almost the same color as the blood running down his forehead.

"Brown skin and red eyes?" Armstrong said, surprised.

"He's an Ishvalan!" Mustang exclaimed, equally as surprised by the man's identity. The man muttered something under his breath which couldn't be heard by Shin. "Hey now, don't go anywhere." Mustang began, "You're surrounded you can't slip awa—" The Ishvalan raised his right hand above his head and slammed it into the ground; dust, debris, and smoke erupted from where he was standing. When it cleared there was a large hole in the ground, however the man was nowhere to be found. Mustang demanded that no one should go after him as he was extremely dangerous. Shin walked over to where Mustang and Hawkeye were standing they were looking at Alphonse and Edward talking; half of Alphonse was missing due to the Ishvalan's attack before Shin got there. Shin could hear the two, now arguing.

"But why? If I had run away, you could have been killed, you know!" Edward said, clutching the left side of his face.

"And maybe I wouldn't have been killed!" Alphonse replied, swiftly. "How could you do something stupid like choosing to die when you could keep living?"

"Don't go up to your big brother and say he's stupid!"

Alphonse grabbed Edward by the shirt with his right hand, "I'll say it again and again!" he yelled. "You might find a way to restore our bodies if you survive and learn more about alchemy! And you might even find a way to save a poor girl like Nina!" Shin shuddered; he hated the fact that he not only was powerless to stop the Ishvalan from killing people, but what was worse was he hated how he was equally as powerless to help Nina. The arm that was gripping Edward fell off; there was an awkward pause. "Now look what you've done! My arm's come off you retard!" Alphonse said, still angry.

"We're really falling apart aren't we?" Edward asked smiling. Alphonse nodded his head and agreed.

Alphonse, Shin, and Edward all headed back to Mustang's office for debriefing. Shin didn't exactly understand why the man bore so much hatred towards the State Alchemists.

Mustang began to explain why, "The Ishvalans were a race of people in the eastern area who worshipped their absolute one god of creation Ishvala. But due to differences in religious values, there were frequent conflicts repeated between the two countries. Thirteen years ago, when an officer shot and killed an Ishvalan child by accident, an enormous civil war erupted. Riot brought about riot, and before expected, the flames of the rebellion spread throughout all of the east area. An operation was ordered by the military brass after seven years of offensive and defensive warfare…" Mustang paused, "To deploy the State Alchemists as well in the Ishvalan Extermination Campaign. I was one of the State Alchemists deployed in Ishval. This is why that man, as a survivor of Ishval, is justified in wanting vengeance."

Edward sighed; Shin did as well, "That's horseshit." Edward said plainly. "There's no such thing as a 'just' cause in getting vengeance. He's only using that as a cover up to act all high and mighty so he can act as 'the messenger of god'."

A man with square glasses and pointy hair walked up to the Elric brothers, "Say boys, who's your new friend?" he asked, pointed to Shin.

Edward was about to speak, but Shin spoke before him, "Shin Maxwell, sir" Shin said, noticing that the man was a higher rank that his Major status.

The man noticed the silver chain hanging out of Shin's pocket and asked, "You're a State Alchemist, eh?"

"That's right. I just got my certification a couple days ago, actually."

"I've seen the boy's alchemy personally, it's truly remarkable" Armstrong said, crediting Shin. He continued. "He was able to hold his own against Scar. That was no easy task I assure you."

"Scar?" He asked, looking confused.

"We can't figure out what his real name is, so we just call him Scar; notably for his 'X' shaped scar on his face." The man with glasses said, informing Shin about the assailant. "I'm Maes Hughes, Lieutenant Colonel! Any friend of the Elric brothers is a friend to me!" he said, outstretching his hand. Shin smiled and shook his hand.

Edward stood up "Since I'm the only one who knows how to repair Al's armor, I'll have to go see my mechanic."

Shin interest sparked up "Oh Winry?" he said, also standing up. "I should bring Wynn along! She'd probably butcher me if I didn't take her!"

Edward winced at Shin and snorted, "Why reason do you have to come?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"Well, between you me I was planning to leave Wynn there with Winry. If she allows it of course; though I can't see why since the two need some time to catch up, and Wynn would be a great help! She could help around the house and—"

"Alright, alright" Edward said cutting Shin off, "We'll bring her along." Shin's face beamed he thanked Edward and Alphonse for allowing Wynn to tag along for the ride.

The three, followed by Armstrong who carried Alphonse in a box, travel back to the hotel Shin stayed. He led them up to his room and opened the door Wynn greeted them all with a warm smile. Shin explained what happened at the Tucker estate the day she didn't come; he really didn't want to tell her what transpired but he feared she would find out eventually. To everyone's surprise (except Shin's) she took the news surprisingly well, but Shin knew better after seeing her reaction. Wynn was a different type of person on an emotional scale; she would hold emotions inside of her and let them explode and completely random times. She was upset but not a tear was shed by her over the Tucker incident.

Shin told Wynn that Edward and Alphonse were heading to Resembool to get repairs for Edward's automail and that Wynn would be coming with them. Wynn jumped in the air, she was absolutely ecstatic she would be able to see her cousin Winry for the first time! Shin packed his things and cleaned up the hotel before leaving; he shut the door and locked it behind him. Walking over to the main desk he returned the key, and thanked everyone for the stay.

The five headed for the tram station, Mustang and company were there to see him off. Edward smiled "Well, Major, I guess this is where we depart!" he held out his left arm to shake Armstrong's hand. Hawkeye quickly corrected Edward,

"He's coming with you, as an escort."

"What? I don't need an escort!" Edward said, fuming.

Shin slapped Edward over the back of the head, "Are you stupid?" He said, "Scar just tore you apart! He almost got me as well! What if he attacked again? Don't you think it would be smart to have someone with you who stands a fighting chance?" Edward rubbed the back of his head; Shin had hit him pretty hard and with his automail arm as well.

"Well, at least let me take someone else than the Major!" Edward said, now wanting a quick exchange of escorts.

"I've got tons of work to do, so I gotta head back to Central soon." Hughes said.

"I can't leave HQ." Mustang said, quickly after.

"And I've got to watch over the Colonel; it gets pretty hectic doing so." Hawkeye followed.

The four got on the train; minus Alphonse who was treated as luggage and stored in the back of the train. The train lurched forward, yet again catching Shin off guard and slowly it left the station and the group was on route to Resembool. The train chugged along the country side trees, and trees whizzed by. Shin figured this would be a great time for idle conversation, "Say, Major, did you know that Wynn is also a mechanic like Edward's?"

"Though not nearly as good!" Wynn said, blushing. She was very modest when it came to her work, especially when she is compared to Winry. Shin gave Wynn an odd look; whenever he looked into those blue eyes he could just sense innocence.

"I did not know that." Armstrong replied, "Was she the one who gave you your automail arm?" he asked.

"Yep! This things pretty tough if it survived an encounter with Scar's destruction alchemy!" Shin said, smiling proudly; it swiftly faded when he noticed Edward's scowl. "Oh hey! Don't give me that look, I didn't mean anything by it!" Shin said, realizing he just stomped on Edward's fingers. Edward relaxed and leaned back in his seat; he was slouching now. Shin let out a sigh and gazed at his left arm. _Yeah that was a close call, way to close! One wrong move and I would have been a corpse for sure! _Shin thought.

The train started to slow down as it was approaching its first stop. Major Armstrong seemed to recognize someone outside he opened the window, "Dr. Marcoh? It is you! It's Alex Louis Armstrong from Central!" the man turned to the voice and a horrified expression could be seen on his face; he bolted off in the other direction. Shin look puzzled,

"You know him, Major?" he asked.

"That I do, he used to be a doctor in the Civil War but disappeared shortly after it ended. He was an extremely capable alchemist who used his vast knowledge for medical purposes." Armstrong responded.

Edward stood up and headed for the exit "We're getting off." he said, walking through the aisles. "If this doctor is as good as you say he is, then he must know something about bio-transmutation!" Everyone got off the train and unloaded Alphonse out of the livestock compartment of the train; he smelt like goats and sheep, Armstrong carried the armored boy's box over the shoulder. Edward began asking people if they had seen a man walk through the town recently. Armstrong drew a quick, accurate sketch of Dr. Marcoh and people instantly began to recognize him, although he was going by the alias Mauro. One of the townsfolk directed them to his house.

Edward knocked on the door only to have a revolver pointed in his face. A shaky Marcoh was on the other side of the barrel. "What did you come here for?" he asked.

"Please calm down, doctor." Armstrong said, kindly.

"Did you come to take me back?" Marcoh shot back. "I'm not going back there! Just leave me be!"

Armstrong tried to reason with Marcoh, "That's not true, please listen what I have to say."

"So you came here to kill me to keep me quiet?"

"First, put that gun dow—"

"I won't be fooled!" The doctor interrupted.

Armstrong had had enough he took the box Alphonse was in and slammed it into the doctors torso sending him to the ground.

"I SAID CALM DOWN!"

He helped the doctor up and Marcoh showed them inside; he was still shaken up from Alphonse's box flattening him. He showed each of them their seats but there was only enough for three people, Shin let Wynn sit down and offered to stand. Marcoh told the group what his role was in the war and said he was a tool for mass murder. "What I have done are things that cannot be atoned for by just taking my life" he said regretfully. "Even so, I am acting as a doctor here for as long as I can."

"What exactly did you do with the research you escaped with?" Armstrong asked. He looked the man dead in the eye and spoke,

"I made the philosopher's stones." Edward's eyes went wide, he had read about the stones before said to make the impossible, possible and bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Dr. Marcoh nodded his head "Yes, the research files and a stone are what I brought with me." He ruffled in his jacket for a few seconds then produced a glass vial with red liquid inside it "Here it is." He said, simply.

"A stone? This is a liqu…" Edward's voice trailed off as Marcoh uncorked the vial and dumped the stone on the table; it seemed to be more of a gelatin shape than a solid object.

"The Philosopher's Stone,' 'The Celestial Stone,' 'The Grand Elixir,' 'The Red Tincture,' 'The Fifth Element.'" Marcoh paused, "Just as the Philosopher's Stones have several names; their shapes aren't limited to only stones." "However, they remained experimental creations until the end. Imperfect objects that will eventually be exhausted before they can reach their full potential. Still, they were used secretly during the Civil War and their power was overwhelming." Shin thought for a moment. _This could be the perfect opportunity to get my arm back since I don't have to worry about giving up anything, however…it won't get me my memories back. I'll have to find another way. _

Edward chucked to himself, "Even though you're saying they're an imperfect creation, making it means that with better research we might be able to produce a perfect one!" "Dr. Marcoh!" Edward began; a happy smile was on his face. "Could you show me your research notes?"

Marcoh turned to Armstrong "What should I tell him? Who is he?" The doctor asked.

"A State Alchemist, the young man with the white jacket as well" Armstrong responded. Edward told Marcoh of his story in the hope that he could get his notes.

"I can't show you the files! This is the end of the discussion go home." Marcoh said, now getting up from his seat "It's better if you didn't see it. It's the devil's research," Edward was getting angry, he needed the notes to restore his brother and his own body back to normal. "It will take you through Hell itself" Marcoh warned.

"I've already been through Hell!" Edward said bolting up from his seat. Marcoh just shook his head and ushered the group out the door; they found themselves at the train station waiting for the next train.

"You're fine with this, Edward?" Shin asked, "I mean you and I both know you could have taken the stone and the paper by force."

"Yeah I know! I really wanted it!" Edward said, rubbing his chin "However, I'd be depriving a town of their doctor and I couldn't live with that" Shin smiled, he knew Edward wanted the stone badly, but he wouldn't go out of his way to force the stone from the man.

"Hey!" a voice called out. Shin spun his head around, it was Dr. Marcoh. He was making his way up the train platform with a note in his hand. Without hesitation Edward ran towards him. "Please, only take this if you're sure you're not going to regret what you find. Maybe you'll be able to find the truth _within _the truth!" He stopped and turned in the other direction, "Bah! I've already said too much. I hope you get your bodies back!" Edward opened the note up it read:

_Central National Library 1__st__ Branch_

"This is going to be finding a tree in a forest" Shin groaned, "The amount of books Central has is mind boggling!"

"Not a problem, it's nothing Al and I can't handle!" Edward said, knocking on the armored boy's helmet. The train rolled in the station and the group was on their way to Ed and Al's hometown of Resembool.


	7. Interlude

_Chapter Seven :: Interlude_

The train rolled into the Resembool station screeching to a halt. Shin stretched when he got up from his chair; they were very uncomfortable while in them for long periods of time he often found himself switching positions every ten minutes to keep the blood flowing in his backside.

Edward yawned and stood up with Armstrong, "Here we are." he said, shaking out his left arm; it had gone numb when he had fallen asleep on the train. Edward walked off the train on onto the platform unloading Alphonse out of the livestock compartment; he still smelled like goats and sheep.

"Feels good to be back huh, brother?" Alphonse spoke as he was being carried by Armstrong.

Edward sucked in a lung full of country air and exhaled. "Yep!" he said, beaming, "Let's go get ourselves fixed up!" Shin helped Wynn off the train. He carried her heavy toolbox while she had her suitcase with her filled with clothes. The group left the station and walked along the dirt road to Winry's home. When they got close Shin could hear a dog barking, and before long they were outside the house.

"Hey, Granny Pinako! Could you fix us up?" Edward said; his suitcase slung behind his left shoulder.

Pinako was a short woman, even shorter than Edward. She had a lightly wrinkled face and small circular glasses which rested on her small, beaklike nose. "Oh, so you've come back have you?" Pinako said, smirking.

Edward pointed to Armstrong, "This is Major Armstrong," he paused and then pointed to Shin, "and this is Shin." Before he would get to Wynn, Pinako gasped in surprise.

"Wynn!" she nearly dropping her pipe. "Is that you? My goodness look how much you've grown!" she exclaimed grabbing Wynn's hand, "The last time I saw you, you were so small! Time certainly flies!"

Wynn laughed, "It's good to see you too Grandma Pinako!" She stopped laughing when she noticed Winry looking at the group from the balcony.

Pinako looked up to Winry after noticing where Wynn was staring, "Winry! Come down here and say hello to your cousin!" Pinako called to the blonde girl on the balcony. She left and shortly after came out to the front door to meet Wynn. Wynn noticed Winry must have been recently working on automail because she had a beige colored engineer jacked on.

Wynn smiled at her cousin, "How do you do, Winry? I've been itching to meet you!" her blue eyes matched her cousin's despite the different hairstyle the two sported. Wynn preferred to have all her hair behind her as Winry fashioned a similar look but with two locks of blond hair at the sides of her head.

Winry shook Wynn's hand. "It's good to see you, Wynn. How is uncle Treize?" she asked.

"He's good, still fixing automail as usual."

"That's good to hear, when you get back to Rush Valley tell him I said hello." Winry said. She looked over to Shin and smirked "So you've also found a boyfriend?"

Wynn flushed a shade of hot pink, "No!" she said flustered. "He's just a friend!"

Winry giggled but stopped when she noticed Shin's automail. She quickly rushed over to the young alchemist and had a look at his arm, "Hm, this is defiantly superb craftsmanship. Someone defiantly took time to make sure that this arm wouldn't hinder the user as much as second rate automail. The amount of detail on this automail is unreal; my guess is there was a higher usage of chrome than normal that explains why it's so light!" Shin looked confused, he now knew what Edward felt like when Wynn examined his arm without warning. Winry looked at Shin's eyes, "Say, who made this fantastic piece of work?"

Shin pointed to Wynn. "She did. She made the thing from scratch; it's an interesting story actually—" Before he could finish his sentence Winry already left him and was at Wynn's side again.

"We've got A LOT to talk about! Here let me get that for you..." Winry said, grabbing Wynn's suitcase and bolted for the door. She turned back and looked to the confused group "C'mon!" she beckoned.

The Rockbell residence was an average sized house. The first thing Shin saw upon entering was a workbench off to the side and a small table used for eating on the opposite side of the main room. Edward sat down on the couch as Winry put down Wynn's things. Shin rested the toolbox next to the suitcase.

"What did you do to your automail?" Winry exclaimed as Edward took off his red jacket.

Edward took one look at Winry and smiled. "It got a little banged up" he said, nonchalantly.

"A little?"

"Yep!" Edward chipped. "Totally smashed to pieces!"

Edward explained what he learned from Dr. Marcoh after learning where the research notes were he wanted to get to Central as soon as possible. Winry noticed that Edward was standing on a very slight angle when he was talking; Pinako promptly sat him down and measured his leg.

"It's not just the arm," she said, "the left leg will also need to be adjusted. We don't have to start from scratch since we still have the base. The arm, however, has to be built from scratch."

Edward sighed, "That's about a week and a bit right?" Pinako let out a small laugh,

"Give me some credit, Ed. It's three days that's all we'll need." Winry popped off Edward's automail leg and slung it over her shoulder. Pinako fashioned Edward with a spare prosthetic leg so he could walk, though he wasn't used to it and wobbled around the room a bit.

"Hey, Wynn?" Winry asked her cousin. "Why don't you join me upstairs? I have a lot of spare parts lying around; you could give your friend here an upgrade!" Wynn's face lit up and she followed Winry upstairs. Shin smiled he felt really good about brining Wynn along now; she was the happiest girl in the world right now. Shin picked up Alphonse and walked outside with Edward. The three sat down on the grass, the warm air felt good through Shin's jet black hair.

"So, Edward." Shin began. "What happens now? We've got three days to relax and not a library in sight."

Edward groaned. "Don't remind me, Shin."

"Oh! Brother!" Alphonse said, now realizing something important. "You can use this time to go visit mother's grave!" Edward bowed his head in realization. He stood up and began to walk away from the two saying he'd be back in a little while. It was just Alphonse and Shin now and Armstrong who was on the other side of the house chopping wood with his bare hands.

After a brief pause Shin spoke up, "Where's your father?" he asked, carefully treading his sensitive questions.

"Gone, no one knows where he is." Alphonse replied. "He left before my mom died and I haven't seen him since. I have very faint a memory of him, but brother probably remembers him better than I do" he stopped for a second then asked Shin about his family. "What about you Shin? Do you have any brothers or sisters? How are your mom and dad?"

Shin thought for a second he hadn't been able to remember any family or friends other than Wynn and Treize. "I don't remember." Shin said. "The amnesia I have is pretty intense, the more I think about what happened that day I woke up, the cloudier my memories get. Faces become masked, like oily black shadows."

"Any leads on how you plan to get them back?" Alphonse asked.

"Shou Tucker wasn't much help since he specialized in bio-alchemy. But Dr. Marcoh said something about the Philosopher's Stone, he said it could make the impossible possible! If I could just get my hands on that stone…I could get them back!" Shin slammed his automail fist into his right palm.

Alphonse admired Shin's determination; it reminded him of his own determination to restore his body. "How old are you now, Shin?" He asked.

"I'm seventeen."

"What about Wynn?"

"She's seventeen as well; I believe she is about 3 months younger than I am." The breeze picked up making Shin's bangs fly to the back of his head gently. "She's about as close to a sibling as I'm ever going to get."

"Shin!" a voiced called from inside the house, "Shin, come here! Wynn needs you for a second!"

"I'll be back in a second." Shin said to Alphonse who nodded.

Shin raced up the steps and opened Winry's door. It was the wrong room so he tried the door directly behind him; the two girls were inside working hard. "Oh, there you are, Shin," Winry said fastening a bolt on a piece of metal, "Wynn needs your arm for a second she's going to make a few adjustments to it." Shin sat down in the chair next to Wynn and stretched out his left arm across the table. Winry got up and took another look at Shin's automail, "Interesting," she began, "Your automail style isn't that much different from Ed's. Although, it seems the fingers and shoulder sections seem to look more reinforced and durable than his." "Oh look and here," she pointed to the shoulder section of the automail "I noticed just now this section was reinforced with carbon fiber. It makes it extremely light but at the same time very durable" Winry paused, "You know, Wynn, you should make the entire arm out of carbon fiber or at least reinforce more delicate parts with it."

Wynn blinked she hadn't thought about that yet. "Yeah! That's a good idea, let me just get this cover off…" Wynn said, prying the faceplate off Shin's automail exposing the wires running throughout the arm. Wynn quickly found a suitable piece of carbon fiber and trimmed it down to size in about fifteen minutes. She finished the whole arm in half an hour, she was known for her speed when it came to simple upgrades. "That ought to do it!" she said, happy with her new creation.

Shin's arm was now a lighter shade of grey almost coming close to silver. He stretched out his arm in amazement, "It's like it's not even there! It's so light!" He smiled and thanked Wynn. "You should help Winry out with Ed's arm. Two head are better than one!" Wynn nodded as Shin left the room and went back downstairs and out the door to where Alphonse was.

Alphonse shifted his head when he heard footsteps on the grass outside. "There you are, Shin." He looked at Shin's left arm noticing it was different. "You got an upgrade?"

Shin rotated his left arm. "Yup!" He began, "Its carbon fiber. Wynn just did it for me! It's so light!" Alphonse laughed to himself. Shin looked off into the distance and he could see a figure limping to the house in the distance. It was Edward. Shin waved to the young boy as he walked it back to the house with the family dog, Den.

After dinner Shin went to bed he slept in one of the spare rooms downstairs; sharing it with Major Armstrong. To Shin's great delight Armstrong didn't snore, talk in his sleep, or grind his teeth while he slept! He was a sound sleeper which meant that Shin's wouldn't have any trouble getting to sleep. The only problem was Armstrong took up the whole bed which forced Shin on the floor. Not a problem the floor wasn't that hard and Shin didn't mind the lack of blankets at all. He didn't like getting wrapped up in blankets in warm weather it made him uncomfortable. Shin shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The sound of heavy footsteps woke Shin up in the morning; it was Armstrong getting up from bed. Shin groaned as he sat up he had a kink in his lower back. "Maybe sleeping on the floor wasn't the best idea," He groaned, "felt like I was sleeping on ceramic tiles." Shin got dressed out of his sleep wear and headed to the bathroom. He noticed Alphonse in the corner of the room; he had been repaired by Edward before he woke up. He gave his teeth a good scrubbing and headed to the living room for a bite to eat. He saw Edward on the couch relaxing. Shin saw a tired Winry coming down the stairs. "I thought you said it would take three days?" Shin asked.

Winry rubbed her eyes. "Wynn was up all night with me helping out. It would have been three days had it been just me, well… between after-carvings, shaving, assembly, and rewiring." She smiled at Wynn who returned a warm smile right back. "It's like having another me in that workshop." She said, smiling as she moved a lock of hair from in front of her face."

Edward stood up and flexed his legs and arms. "We're leaving now, Shin. Get everything you need and we'll catch the next train to Central."

Shin nodded and collected his things together. He dragged his suitcase to the door and reached down to pick up Wynn's toolbox. He stopped when he felt her grab his right arm; it was the same gentle touch from when they first met. He turned his head his eyes matched her piercing blue eyes; Shin saw right through them he could feel what she was going to stay. "I'm staying here, Shin. Winry and I talked it over last night with Grandma Pinako. It would be better if I stayed here."

Shin lowered his head. He didn't want to leave Wynn behind, but she was right; she was safer here in Resembool. Shin embraced Wynn close to him "Take care of yourself." he said quietly.

Wynn blushed slightly. "I will." She said just as quiet.

Shin turned around said to Edward, "We better start going. I bet the train's almost at the station by now." Armstrong, Edward, and Alphonse left the small town of Resembool and boarded the train to Central. Shin stared at the empty seat where Wynn would have been sitting. He sighed.

He missed her already.


	8. The Devil's Errand

Chapter Eight :: The Devil's Errand

_You think power like this comes easy? There are sacrifices that must be made! _

The train rolled into Central's station. Edward raced out of the train and sucked in the city air, "Here we are, Central!" Shin walked out of the train and noticed to officers waiting just outside of the train he was just in. They wore the standard blue State Military uniforms.

Shin walked to the officers, "Are you guys here for Fullmetal?" he asked.

The male officer with dirty blonde hair, close to brown looked at Shin; his green eyes and thin eyebrows seemed to complement his facial expressions. "That we are, sir! Sergeant Denny Brosh reporting in, sir!" The man snapped a fast salute.

The woman beside him followed suit. She had short black hair, which brought out her sharp eyes contrasting her soft looking face; under her left eye was a minuscule mole. "Second Lieutenant Maria Ross, sir!" Shin nodded to the two as Alphonse approached Shin.

"Oh wow!" Denny exclaimed. "When they said 'Fullmetal' they weren't kidding!"

Shin slapped his face with his right hand. "Wrong guy." He said; pointing to a hot tempered Edward held back by Armstrong. Denny quickly apologized. "So we get more escorts, Major?" Shin said slightly disappointed.

Armstrong replied. "Yes, there have still been reports that Scar still hasn't been apprehended yet. This is just another precaution."

Shin sighed, "We might as well get to Central's library. Marcoh's notes were in the first branch." Shin walked out of the station only to be stopped by Sergeant Brosh who informed the three that there was a car waiting for him. Armstrong wasn't joining the boys as he had to go back to Central HQ leaving them in the capable hands of Maria and Denny.

The car pulled up on the first branch of the library. Shin stood in horror there was nothing but ashes and the smell of burnt wood where the first branch used to be. "You've got to be kidding me." Edward began. "It's gone, all Marcoh's notes about the Philosopher's Stone…all gone."

Shin tried to make Edward feel better: "Maybe it's been moved to the second branch! Who know?" Edward agreed as the three walked it over to the second branch. The reception desk was right in front of them; the receptionist ushered them to the desk. "Hi, we're looking for Dr. Marcoh's notes; it was in the first branch of the library. We were wondering if it was moved." Shin asked politely.

The receptionist thought for a moment, "Can't say I remember seeing a 'Dr. Marcoh' anywhere in that branch before it burned down. I know some who does though!" Shin's face lit up like a star. "Her name is Sheska…" the woman began to write down an address "She lives here, on East 33rd street. She spent a lot of time in the first branch so I'm sure she can help you." Shin thanked the receptionist and walked out the door with Alphonse and Edward.

"Well, we have a lead now." Alphonse spoke up.

"Yeah." Edward responded. "Now let's see what this Sheska knows!"

Shin approached the door and used the knocker. There was no answer for a couple minutes so he tried again. Nothing. "Maybe no one's home?" Alphonse said.

"Only one way to find out…" Shin said, opening the door slowly. The inside of the house was littered with stack and stacks of books; some reaching the ceiling. It looked more like the beginnings of a very crude library than living quarters. "Wow…someone actually _lives _here?" Shin said in disbelief.

"I don't know how it's possible to live in an environment like this!" Alphonse stated, pointing out the books around a dinner table. He walked around the room. "Ms. Sheska? Are you home?"

Shin was about to call out to Sheska when he heard a very feint murmur. Quickly pinpointing the location amongst the legion of books he could see a hand emerging from a section of collapsed books.

Edward pointed and exclaimed, "She's under there!"

Without hesitation Edward, Shin, and Alphonse attempted to dig Sheska out of the mess of books; after five minutes of digging Sheska pulled herself from the mess of books. "Man! I thought I was a goner! I could have suffocated!" Edward and Alphonse explained why they tracked Sheska down and asked if she knew anything about Tim Marcoh. "Oh yes! I remember looking at a Tim Marcoh when I used to work at the first branch of Central's library!" Sheska paused briefly. "However, I spent more time reading the books than working. As a result I was fired, now I can't bring in any money to move my mother to a better hospital." She looked like she was about to cry, but kept the tears held back.

"Great. So the notes were there…and ended up being burned up in the fire." Edward said disappointed.

Sheska looked at Edward, "Did you want to read them?" She asked. "Is that why you're here?"

Shin nodded. "Yeah, we need to take a look at them. But they're gone now so I guess we'll be on our way."

Sheska stopped Shin, "No, I can actually make a copy of the notes! I can remember everything I ever read!" Shin's eye twitched. Was this girl for real? She actually had a photographic memory! If so, this would be perfect! "Just give me a day or two to write them all out and—"

Shin ran to Sheska and got on his knees. "Oh thank you! Thank you, thank you!" he said, overjoyed at the wonderful news.

Three days had passed before Sheska could present all five stacks of documentation on Dr. Marcoh's research notes. "Here you are!" she announced proudly, "Tim Marcoh's research notes, 1000 easy recipes!" Everyone's face dropped, no one expected Marcoh's notes to be a cookbook.

"Great, we took all this time for a cookbook?" Maria said sarcastically.

Shin skimmed through the notes. Alphonse looked over his head to see what he was looking at. Shin came to a stunning realization and turned to Alphonse, they both nodded.

"Sheska?" Edward began. "Are you sure these are Tim Marcoh's notes?"

"Absolutely!" she responded. "I remember them like I read the book yesterday!"

Edward grinned. "Then thank you very much! C'mon Al, we got work to do!" Alphonse picked up two stacks of papers as well as Shin as they headed for the door. Before they got out Edward stopped. "Oh! I almost forgot!" he reached in his pocket with his left hand and pulled out his pocket watch with a small sheet of paper. He set the papers down and began to write something down on the paper and then handed the paper and watch to Maria. "Here," he said. "Go to the bank and take this amount out of my research grants and give it to Sheska."

Maria looked confused. "So I just take this to the bank and use the watch as identification?" she asked.

"That should work!" Edward said walking out the door. The three alchemists headed over to the city's library, sat down, and began to look over the codes.

Sergeant Brosh approached the boys. "I don't get it, how can you possibly get notes out of a cookbook?"

Edward flipped the pen in his hand. "It's more than it looks, alchemists use coding to encrypt their notes. So to the untrained eye it looks like a simple cookbook."

"Wow, sir," Brosh began. "That sounds really complicated!"

"Looks like we're going to have to crack this! Between the three of us this should take no time at all." Shin said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Hey, Shin." Alphonse began, "How much do you know on alchemy? Are you sure you can decipher these notes?" Shin gave Alphonse a blank stare. "Oh! I didn't mean it like that! I just was wondering how much you know in the field of alchemy, I didn't mean to undermine your knowledge!"

Shin laughed at Alphonse who quickly corrected himself. "Don't worry about it, Alphonse. I know quite a bit, I did some studying on alchemy back at Rush Valley for two years. I even passed my entrance exam for the State Alchemist program with flying colors!"

"That's amazing!" Edward said.

Shin frowned. "Even with all my knowledge I still couldn't think up of a way to save Nina." Shin rested the pen on the table and rested his chin in the palm of his left hand. "However, after looking and decoding some basic alchemy decoding Marcoh's notes should be a breeze."

"You were doing all this research at fifteen?" Alphonse asked. Shin could hear the slight shock in his voice.

"Yeah, Wynn's dad said I'm quite gifted in the art of comprehension. I made my first transmutation when within a few hours of reading Introduction to Alchemy." Shin paused and smiled at Edward. "Come now, Edward, you were doing the same thing I was at my age…actually you were younger than I was when you started using alchemy, weren't you?"

Edward looked surprised and hesitated to answer. "How did you—"

"I did some digging and filled in the parts which weren't documented for myself." Shin lowered his voice into a more hushed tone. "I'd say you were around eleven years old when you tried to bring your mother back. And Alphonse, you must have been ten years old around that time as well?" Both brothers looked at Shin in utter shock. How could have he made such an accurate estimation? What else could this young man know? Whoever he was in his past life, he was good.

The room went dead silent until Shin's hearty laugh broke the silence. "Man! You should see the look on your face, Edward! It's priceless! I think we'll work great together!"

Edward scrunched his eyebrows, his antenna stood up on his head. "So you were joking with us the whole time?"

Shin straightened his expression. "Nope." he replied.

A few hours passed and a knock tapped on the study room doors. It was Sheska. She bowed before the alchemists. "Thanks, Edward," She began. "Thanks to you I was able to move my mother to a better hospital!"

"It's no problem!" Edward said.

The study doors swung open again and a familiar man showed his face. "Yo!" he said walking to the room. Shin lifted up his head from the notes he was writing, a smile lit up on his face. It was Lieutenant Colonel Hughes! "Major Armstrong told me you guys would be here!" he continued as he slapped his hands down on the table in front of Edward. "What gives Ed? I told you to give me a call the next time you were in Central!"

Edward chuckled nervously, "Uh, something urgent came up. Sorry about that!"

"I thought as much." Hughes said, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "Dealing with the whole Tucker chimera case isn't easy and on top of that the first branch had to burn down; it's no picnic let me tell you."

"It's that bad?" Alphonse asked.

"Yeah." Hughes replied. "All our criminal records were stored in there."

Shin, Alphonse and Edward froze as they peered over to Sheska who was standing close by. "I think I know who you're looking for Colonel!" Edward exclaimed.

Sheska pushed the glassed up on her face. "Well, I have read all the military's criminal records and I remember them all."

Without hesitation Colonel Hughes stood up from his chair. "That's all I need to hear, lady! You're hired! My department pays well so don't worry!" He laughed maniacally as he dragged her out of the room. Sheska waved and thanked Edward for the help.

"Did he have to drag her?" Shin asked casually.

"It's a kidnapping by Hughes. What did you expect?" Edward replied.

The three got back to work right away. Several days had passed the boys had to keep coming back to the library because staying overnight looking at notes would be insane. "There's a quote a read a while back." Shin began, "I still think about it every day and it helps me understand the way things work in the world: 'A living being seeks above all else to discharge its strength—life itself is will to power. Nothing else matters.'" Shin placed the book down on is lap.

"Who wrote that quote?" Alphonse asked. "It's shockingly accurate."

"I don't remember." Shin frowned. "It's all starting to leak into my head now. This research, this language…I feel like I've seen it before, or at least glanced over it."

Shin yawned and skimmed over his notes. Marcoh's notes looked very familiar. _Lapis Philosophorum._ Shin thought in his head, that was a term for Philosopher's Stone, but in a different language. He kept on looking through the notes and decoded as much as he could before his hand started to hurt. Edward threw his papers up in frustration and walked out of the room. Shin could tell he needed a break. He looked back down at his paper and froze in horror as he decoded a portion of the notes. He had seen this exact text before; he couldn't put his finger on it. He could feel inside him, something quiet and calm, calling out to him to understand; and just like that, everything became clear, his pen readied in his hand, his mind clear, and his eyes focused on the text he began to write. He took the sentence he had decoded it. Shin work endlessly on decoding the note, this one sentence that something inside of him told him it held significance. After decoding the sentence in very basic terms he dropped his pen and cupped his hand over his mouth. The sentence read after translating: _I can hear all their screams. _Shin grabbed the paper and rushed out of the room.

"Shin! What's wrong?" Alphonse called after him.

Shin ran to the bathroom and closed himself in the bathroom stall. He felt like throwing up but gathered his composure. "Okay." He said to himself. "This must be a mistake, you're in an unknown land things could be different here. Let's just think back to what Marcoh said, the truth hidden within the truth." Information began to seep into his brain and he began to write out the decryption process again right next to Marcoh's notes on the ingredients to the Philosopher's Stone. Shin's face began to twist in confusion the more he wrote, the less sense it made! The decryption process must have been flawed! All he was getting when he decoded it was the following: 35 liters of water, 20 kilograms of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kilograms of caustic lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine, 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon, and 2 drops of human's blood. "Wait a minute…human blood?" Shin thought. "These are the basic makeup elements for an average human being. Why would you need that in the sto—?"

Shin's body went completely numb, he couldn't feel his hands anymore all he could do was turn to the toilet and vomit. He vomited continually until his abdomen began to tighten. Shin ran out of the stall and cleaned himself up in the sink, still in horror on his realization; his face was now a lighter shade of white than it used to be.

_I can hear all their screams._

The thought of that one line horrified him. Dr. Marcoh was right, this research was the Devil's errand; it should have been destroyed. But if this was the key to getting his arm back…the Grand Elixir which was said to make the impossible, possible… how could he use a stone which harnessed the souls of those sacrificed to make the stone? He would have to tell Edward about this. Shin walked back to the study room trying to look as calm as possible. He saw Edward working hard on deciphering the research notes. When Edward saw Shin's shadow he looked up, and when he saw Shin's expression he smiled. "You cracked it didn't you! That's good news!" Edward said, reaching for the paper in Shin's hand.

Shin jerked the paper away from him and drove his left arm in the table. "THERE'S NOTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS SHIT!" His hand had made a dent in the table. Edward looked shocked, but before he could say a word Shin continued; much calmer this time. "Dr. Marcoh was right…it's evil. The main ingredient to make a Philosopher's Stone," He paused, "is human life."

Edward's eyes shot open with utter shock. "NO FUCKING WAY!" he exclaimed. Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh came running in the room to see what all the noise was about.

"Hey now," Brosh began, "don't get mad because you couldn't crack the code!"

"I did crack the code!" Shin shot back. He slumped to his knees, "In order to manufacture even a single stone…you have to make multiple human sacrifices." Maria Ross gasped and cupped her mouth, almost in the same way Shin did when he rushed to the bathroom.

"How could the military organize something so horrible?" Sergeant Brosh asked.

"I was much happier before I learned any of this." Alphonse said pitifully.

Shin gathered his composure and spoke up, "Second Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh. I'm asking you not to speak of this to anyone."

"But, sir!"

"That's an order! Don't say anything…please!"

Shin gathered his deciphered notes and followed Edward and Alphonse out of the library. They booked into a hotel to stay the night. Shin locked himself in his room unable to face the reality of what he just saw. Alphonse and Edward understood the horror; however they had no idea of what Shin was going through. _I can hear all their screams._ The same line raced through Shin's mind like a gnat. _For two years I studied endlessly, looking for a way to restore my body. The answer was right in front of me, but I was too naïve to realize the truth. Even with all my knowledge at that age I couldn't even begin to fathom the main ingredient of the Philosopher's Stone_. Shin thought deeply. A sharp knock interrupted his thought process. The door opened revealing Alphonse behind it.

"Brother's inviting you into his room. He wants to talk."

"Thanks, Alphonse." Shin replied. "I'll be there in a minute I just need a minute to…collect myself." Shin got up and walked to the room adjacent to his he went to open the door, but oddly enough the door knob was missing; so he pushed it open. Major Armstrong, Maria Ross and Sergeant Brosh were also present in the room. _Oh great. I hope those two didn't open their mouths to the Major._ Shin thought.

"Hey, Shin." Edward said. "We're just thought of something ground breaking that you might want to hear. Do you remember when Dr. Marcoh said 'maybe you can find the truth within the truth'?" Shin nodded his head. "We'll we thing the military might be using the prisoners on death row as ingredients for a Philosopher's Stone." Shin took a step back; this was a little surprising even for him. "Here," Edward pointed to a section on the map laid out on the table. "There are five laboratories located in Central. No big deal right? But then I noticed something - the fifth laboratory is closed because it's no longer in use, but there is a prison adjacent to the building."

Shin rubbed his head. "Yeah that makes sense." He paused then turned to Major Armstrong. "Major, if Central Command is involved in foul play… don't you think we should tell the Colonel about this?"

Armstrong rolled up the map in his hands, "Yes that would be the best thing to do. I will probe this matter. However," his voice trailed off he snapped to the Elric brothers "Elric brothers, you were to stay put!" Edward and Alphonse tried to protest, but Armstrong waved them off. "Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh you are to watch over the Elric brothers!" Armstrong said as he walked out of the room.

"Don't worry, Major. I'll keep an eye on them!" Shin chimed in with a devilish grin. "Sergeant Brosh, Lieutenant Ross! You are to watch the outside area of this room; I'll make sure the Elric brothers don't try to escape."

"Yes, sir!"

Shin walked over to the door and picked up the door knob and carefully placed it back where the broken ends met. He clapped his hands and touched the door; he repaired so the door was back to normal. He looked at the Alphonse and Edward, "Don't you two have somewhere to be?" he smirked when he saw the expression on their faces. "I'm checking out this place with you guys, this goes deeper than just mere conspiracy. I can feel it." Shin walked over to the window and opened it he clapped his hands but didn't transmute. _If I try and make an escape pipe now, the Lieutenant might_ _hear me._ Shin looked around the room and looked at the bed in the corner of the room he walked over to it and began to tie the sheets together. Alphonse walked over and helped him out while Edward listened out for the door. A few minutes later the rope was done and was very strong, strong enough to support Alphonse's weight. Shin threw it out the window and began to make his way down the side of the hotel using the bed as an anchor, after him followed Alphonse and shortly after, Edward.

They ran across the street past the prison making sure not to be seen. The fifth lab came into view and Shin could see a guard posted outside the laboratory. The three went around the back Alphonse gave Edward a boost so he could untie the barbed wire for Alphonse to use as a rope to get up. "I'm going to take a look around to see if there's another way inside. Good luck you two!" Shin said walking off in the other direction. He walked around the perimeter but couldn't find a way inside until he looked on the ground. There was a cover which had the sewer system running underneath it; hopefully it ran underneath the fifth lab. This is my ticket in. Shin thought silently. He opened the cover and used the ladder to get down when he got down to the bottom he noticed the sewer was surprisingly well lit. He followed the straight path when he got down and assumed it was going to somewhere in the fifth lab. He could see another ladder at the end of the tunnel; he climbed up top and noticed there was a grate at the top of the ladder.

He checked out the immediate area before proceeded to remove the grate using alchemy. He had made it into the fifth lab but had no idea where he was inside the place. _This will have to be my escape route if things go south. Just remember this hallway._ Shin walked down the hallway the laboratory smelt musty, dank, and almost smelt like something was decomposing inside the hallways. Shin stopped suddenly. Did I just hear movement? He listened carefully.

_Clang! _

That time for sure he heard something but he couldn't pinpoint its location. Shin proceeded down the hallway with extra caution there was a fork in the hallway; he didn't know which way to go. He thought for a second which would have been the way Edward might be.

_Clang! Clang! Swoosh! Clap!_

The clap caught Shin's attention, which could only be one person. Edward. He took the right path and saw an opening open up on the right side of the wall he saw Edward propped up against a stone pillar blood across his face and dripping from his head. "Edward!" Shin called out running over to him. "You alright? Can you walk?" Edward nodded as Shin helped him to his feet.

"Shin," Edward coughed, "look on the ground." Shin looked on the ground he saw pieces of armor scattered, but beside that he saw a transmutation circle.

"Alright boy," a voice called out, nearly making Shin jump out of his skin, "you've won, I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you how to make a Philosopher's Stone." The armored head spoke out. In a matter of seconds something pieced the back of the armored head's helmet the helm slid back into the darkness as a figure walked from the darkness.

"My, that was a close one." A woman's voice could be heard from the darkness. The figure walked forward allowing her figure to be clearly seen. Shin saw a slender looking woman, busty figure with a suggestive curvy body; bright red lipstick matched the blood from Edward forehead, above her chest Shin could see an interesting looking tattoo. "Number 48 you know better than to talk about things that don't concern you."

Another figure approached from the shadows; he had palm tree like hair, green in color, and a slim, toned build. "Well would you look at this, it's the Fullmetal Pipsqueak" he said in a raspy, evil sounding voice.

The helmet snapped in half. "Brother!" the voice called out coming from the body. I see now. They're soul attachments like Alphonse. Before he could analyze the situation further a sword came down a rapidly struck the blood seal of the body.

"You idiot!" the palm tree looking boy said. "You almost killed one of our most important sacrifices! Do you understand me? You could have messed up the entire plan! What would we do then? Huh?"

Shin spoke to Edward quietly before the two hostiles got within hearing range. "Let me take these guys. You're hurt…" Shin looked down to Edwards's right arm. "Winry's going to kill you if you broke that again…"

Edward coughed harshly, "Don't remind me." Shin set him back down on the pillar so he could catch his strength.

"Tell me who you people are," Shin began boldly, "and just what plan are you talking about?" The same piecing spikes that killed Number 48 lashed out at Shin. Narrowly dodging the first attack, the second one came at him; he did I side roll to dodge it.

"You're a quick one aren't you?" The woman added. "It's too bad none of this concerns you, and since you've seen all this. I can't allow you to leave now." More strikes came at Shin; he was getting tired he'd have to finish this quick otherwise he'd be a dead man. _I can't keep this up forever! Her strikes are becoming less and less predictable_. Shin's mind raced as he ended up being back into a pillar in the room…he could feel an iron pipe behind him. "Now die!" the woman said lashing out at Shin. Shin clapped his hands and touched the pipe behind him transmuting it into an iron blade, seemingly much faster this time almost to the point of instantaneous. The woman looked surprised and disengaged from fighting, "It appears you've opened the Portal. Two sacrifices in one place, this is interesting."

"I'll say!" a voice sounded from behind Shin. _Shit! Why didn't I hear him creep up on me!_ Shin's mind raced. Before he could turn around a sharp pain was felt at the back of his neck. For a second he could stand, but his vision blurred—fast. He swayed left. He swayed to the right, then collapsed on the ground and blacked out.


	9. A Whisper In The Wind

__**AN: Phew! For all those still reading, you might remember this chapter. It's been changed slightly, Shin is finally able to realize what his past used to be, his memories have returned. There have been a few elements that have been tweak a little but it's virtually the same chapter that you remember. **

* * *

><p><em><span>Chapter Nine :: A Whisper In The Wind<span>_

_You've met a terrible fate…haven't you?_

"Shin! Shin Maxwell!" a voice called out in the distance. Shin opened his eyes and brought his head up; he had fallen asleep in class again; his neck hurt from lying in one position for the twenty minutes he was asleep. _Man, I really need to go to bed earlier. All this research is killing me, but it's a hell of a lot more interesting that what I'm learning here. _The young man thought to himself, his teacher 'Mrs. Johnson' wasn't impressed this had been the fifth occasion that Shin had fallen asleep in class. "Shin if you're tired: go to bed earlier, however its class time now – not nap time." Mrs. Johnson called from the front of the room.

"Sorry, Miss, It won't happen again, I assure you!" Shin said smiling. He had better keep his eyes open because he had also been missing the important lessons in class. His memory may have been good, but it was more selective than photographic…and usually only was at its best when his eyes were in direct contact with what he was looking at. The bell rang closing the class' session and Shin found himself back at his locker, trying to remember what to take home for homework.

"You always do this, Shin." A voice called out behind him. Shin spun around 180 degrees and met a familiar face.

"Oh! Hey there, Riza. How are you?" Shin asked the young girl.

"I'm alright. I should be asking you the same question; you've been falling asleep more in class. I'm getting a little worried." Riza said examining Shin's eyes which have the very faint formations of bags underneath his lower eyelids. Riza was exactly three months younger than Shin; born on June 5th. Her most prominent features were her bright, almost bleached looking hair, her slim, slender, curvy looking body, and her insane obsession with machinery and firearms. Today, however, she wore her hair behind her tied in a ponytail with her bangs falling in front of her face; her sharp blue eyes always saw right through Shin, he couldn't lie to her face - not because they have been best friends since the day they were born, but because of the penetrating look of her eyes.

"I'm fine, Wynn, honestly! I've just been doing a lot of research, that's all." Shin replied, shoving textbooks inside his backpack.

Riza tilted her 5'1" frame and put her hands on her hips. "Researching what?" she asked. "Is it that Flamel character again?"

Shin stopped packing his bag and stood up to face Riza, he was two inches taller than her standing at 5'3". "Look," he began. "This alchemy stuff really interests me, and this Nicolas Flamel guy actually created a Philosopher's Stone!"

Riza laughed, "You mean like in that Harry Potter movie? But magic on that kind of scale doesn't exist remember?"

"It's not magic," Shin corrected, "it's alchemy!" he zipped his bag and tossed it over his back; he walked with Riza to the front of the school. "Maybe it's just a phase I'm going through," he began his voice echoing throughout the atrium, "I mean, what thirteen year old would be so interested in alchemy and becoming an alchemist?"

Riza stood next to Shin, "True, but what thirteen year old takes apart their bike and puts it all back together – just for fun?" she asked, challenging Shin's question with another question.

Shin laughed. He remembered watching Riza do that this summer she refused to get help and assured Shin she knew what she was doing, after a few hours she managed to get the bike back in working order. "But that's the difference between you and me. You're a gearhead and I'm not!" Shin teased poking Riza's side. He paused for a few seconds looking up at the summer's sky, "Hey, are you coming to the library with me again?" he asked Riza.

Riza looked at Shin; her blue eyes glinted in the sunlight. "You're going to do more research on what's-his-face? Sure, I'm game!"

The two walked it down the street and walked into the library near Shin's house. Shin went to the section where the books on Nicolas Flamel were located and picked the ones off the shelf and sat down. He would periodically get up to go to the bathroom or go on the computer when he couldn't find the information he needed. "Shin, all these notes look hard. What exactly are you doing?" Riza asked.

"Well," Shin began, "the best way I can put it is…I'm deciphering Flamel's notes on the Philosopher's Stone."

Riza gave the weirdest stare at her best friend. "Shin, no one's even made one. It's a myth, at the very least."

"He made one!"

"You can't believe everything you read, you know."

"That's why his notes are encrypted! If Einstein wrote a book on how to make a hydrogen bomb, don't you think everyone would be making them?"

"You know," Riza sighed, "I don't understand you sometimes."

"I get that a lot." Shin said effortlessly. "See here," he pointed to a section in the book, "It's in Latin. I have no clue how to read that. I bet there's a book here that could teach me how to read Latin…or I could ask my mother."

Hours passed while the two were still at the library. This was a regular thing for them because Shin only left the library when he was getting sleepy. He packed up his things and headed home, but not before walking Riza to her house; they only were three doors down from each other. "See you tomorrow after school, Riza." He said.

"See ya, Shin. Try and get some sleep this time!" Riza said waving in the distance.

"I'll try!" Shin called back, walking to his doorstep. He used his keys and opened his front door and was greeted by his mother.

"Hey, honey. Welcome home." His mother said.

"Hi, Mom." Shin said taking his shoes off and carrying them to the closet at the end of the hallway.

"You have a soccer game tomorrow in the evening at six; don't forget because I'm driving you there. Is Riza going as well?" she asked.

"Yeah, she is. Her team is playing against mine."

His mom nodded her head. "Go get ready for dinner and after that go to bed. You look really tired… were you at the library again today?"

"Yeah," Shin began. "I was going more research on Nicolas Flamel."

Shin's mom gave him a hug, "My little boy is trying to become an alchemist." She said not trying to sound like she was mocking.

The rest of the evening seem to fly by and before Shin realized it he was back in between the bed sheets trying to get to get back to sleep. Shin began to think of way he could get to sleep and the more he thought about them, the drowsier he got and next thing he knew he was off to sleep, dreaming peacefully.

Saturday morning arrived Shin started his morning by watching a bit of TV and eating cereal before going over to Riza's house for a bit. He informed his mother where he would be for the rest of the day and took his soccer equipment just in case he lost track of the time and needed to change.

Shin rang the doorbell and Riza's older brother, Quatre, answered the door. "Hey there, Shin." He said. "Riza's upstairs waiting for you."

Shin took his shoes off and ran upstairs and opened Riza's door. To his great surprise he saw Duo already there in the room. Duo and Quatre were identical twins, there was very subtle differences between them to tell them apart; they both had the same brown hair, the same green eyes, and stood the same height; closer inspection of Duo's left eye shows a scar above it. This is how most people differentiate between the two twins, but to Shin and Riza tell them apart was easy.

"Hey there, Shin!" Duo called, sitting on the carpet.

"Hey, Duo! How's it going!" Shin replied closing the door behind him; he sat on the floor near the door.

"I brought something that we might be able to try out, Christina and her friends did it the other day. They said it was pretty cool." Quatre said unzipping his backpack. He brought out an Ouija board; he had got it yesterday morning at a pawn shop for free. The clerk didn't want it and no one would come and buy it.

"Is that…" Shin began.

"Yup," Quatre said. "This one's a little weird though. The one I saw at Christina's house didn't have all this stupid graffiti on the back."

"Let me see that," Shin said taking the board from Quatre, "Hm, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before."

"Can we just play this game?" Duo said impatiently. "The suspense is killing me!"

"I'm familiar with the rules and how this thing works, so I'll get us started." Quatre said setting up the board.

Shin walked over to the door and shut off the lights, the room was black now and it was hard to see everyone's faces. He fumbled on the floor looking for the flashlight he saw a few days ago when he was last here. _Found it!_ He thought. He flicked it on and they began to play the game. When it was Shin's turn to play; he touched the center of the board just like Duo told him too. _Is the board illuminating? Why is it lighting up like this? _

…

Shin's eyes shot open as he gasped for air, the steady beep of a monitor could be heard behind him. It took him a minute for him to get his bearings, but from what he could gather he was in a hospital. _Was I dreaming? _He asked himself.

Shin turned his head to his left; his body ached. "Riza?" he shouted, "Where am I? What year is it!"

Wynn looked at him funny, "What are you talking about, Shin?" he said trying to calm him down, "It's me, Wynn!"

Shin ripped of the sheets on the hospital bed and sprinted out of the room. His head felt like it was going to explode.

"Shin? What's wrong?" Wynn said chasing after him.

_You think power like this comes easy? There are sacrifices that have to be made!_ A voice pounded inside of his head. He pushed people out of the way, as he tried to find an exit. "Duo! Quatre!" he shouted throughout the halls, "Where are you?" he raced up a flight of stairs and eventually made it to the rooftop, the sun blinded him as he the warm ground tingled his feet.

Wynn had caught up to Shin, she was panting, she wasn't used to running that fast. "Shin," she began, "it's alright I'm—!"

_You've met a terrible fate, haven't you? _A distance voice echoed in Shin's mind.

Shin couldn't control what he did next; he grabbed Wynn by the throat and slammed her into the wall, his expression had gone blank as he looked her in the eyes. "You…" he began coldly, "why do you look like her…?" Wynn struggled to breathe as Shin's grip grew tighter, "ANSWER ME!" he shouted.

"I…" Wynn managed to choke out; something clicked in Shin's mind, he instantly released his grasp on Wynn. She dropped to the ground clutching her throat, coughing hoarsely.

Shin slumped to his knees, now fully aware of what he was doing. "What have I done?" he asked himself as he ran to Wynn's side. "Wynn," he began, almost feeling tears well up inside of his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

Wynn coughed hard, breath beginning to come back into her lungs. "It's okay," she choked, "what the hell happened?"

"My memories," Shin began, still in complete shock of his actions, "they're back. All of them! Where I was born, my school, and even my childhood! I remember everything!"

"Not the best time for them to come back, but I can understand what happened. You were under an immense amount of stress when you were out, the doc said your brain waves were off the chart." She replied.

Tears began to slide down Shin's face; he lunged at Wynn and embraced her. "I almost killed you!" He said, tears falling down on Wynn's snow white top.

She ran her fingers through his hair, "I know, Shin," she said quietly, "you couldn't control yourself and I don't blame you for any of it."

…

The two returned to the room where Edward was, who asked about the two disappearing. Shin explained the whole situation, thought he broke down and cried halfway through forcing Wynn to explain the rest.

"Man," Edward began, "that must have been rough, to have your past ripped away from you and then all come back at a critical moment. I can't imagine what that must have been like."

Shin sniffed, "It felt like my head was going to explode." He paused and then looked at Wynn again, "Be as it may, there's still one piece missing from my memories which I know, with all certainty, can tell me why my left arm was taken from me, and how I even got here."

The room door slid open, it was Winry she was holding a tray of food for Edward. Alphonse followed closely behind her. Edward glared at the milk, "I'm not drinking that!" he protested.

Alphonse sat down on the chair and sighed. "Brother, you have a real body that you need to take care of."

"I'm not drinking stuff I don't like! I'm not going to die if I don't drink my milk." He spooned some vegetables in his mouth. "Even if I am short now, I'll grow its just people don't see it!" He chuckled. "You're lucky Al; your body's huge—"

Alphonse shot up from his chair, "I DIDN'T WANT TO GET THIS BODY!" he yelled. The room quickly went deathly silent; Shin could feel the tension in the air.

"You're right," Edward began. "I'm sorry Al, I'll fix things. I'll restore you're body to normal, you can trust me on that!"

"Trust?" Alphonse started. "How am I supposed to trust you with this empty shell? The body is made up of the flesh, the mind, and the soul! If you think about it…all memory is it just bits of data so it should be easy to fabricate one!"

"What are you talking about…?"

"Brother wasn't there something you were supposed to tell me but you were too afraid to do it? Maybe you wanted to tell me that my memories were completely made up!" He continued. "How do you prove that Alphonse Elric really existed? Isn't it possible that Winry, Granny, and everyone else are tricking me? Well, is it, brother?"

Edward slammed his fists on the table nearly knocking over his bottle of milk. Shin could hear the gears tightening against the tension in Edward's right arm. "So that," he began. "That's what's been bothering you this whole time?" he paused. "Is that all you have to say?" Alphonse didn't say anything else; Edward slipped on his slippers and walked out of the room, down the hallways, and disappeared out of view. Shin looked down; it was an intense moment he never knew that's what Alphonse actually thought.

_Clang!_

Shin looked to his right; Alphonse was knocked to the floor by an angry looking Winry. "You idiot!" she yelled, smashing a wrench over Alphonse's head. "You have no idea how Ed feels! That thing that Ed was too scared to tell you… was that if you blamed him for what happened!" Winry's eyes were full of tears. "He cried every night while groaning from the pain and fever that came with the automail surgery! Just what kind of brother would be ready to throw away his life just to make a fake one!" Alphonse remained silent. "Go get him!" Winry ordered as Alphonse walked out of the room. "Hurry up!" she yelled as Alphonse started running.

Half an hour later the brothers returned; the air seemed normal now. Colonel Hughes and Major Armstrong enter the room as Edward started to make drawings from what he could remember from the fifth laboratory before he was knocked unconscious. Shin provided corrections to Edward's drawing to the person that knocked him out as well as the woman that attacked him. The door opened again, everyone gasped. "Führer King Bradley!" everyone exclaimed.

"Shh," Bradley hushed. "Keep quiet."

"Right, sir." Hughes began. "What brings you to a place like this?"

"I heard the Fullmetal alchemist had been hospitalized. So I came to drop of this melon." Bradley handed Edward melon in the basket then looked over to Shin who was in the bed next to him. "Ah, Shin Maxwell. You were with Fullmetal as well? How are you recovering?"

Shin looked kind of surprised. "Um, fine, sir." He could tell Bradley was here for something else, not just to wish him well.

To confirm his suspicions Bradley walked over to the table with the pictures on it. "It seems that you've done some investigating on the military brass, Major."

"How did-?"

"You should know, Major that nothing gets by me. So how much do you know Edward Elric, depending on the situation; the Philosopher's Stone was it?" There was a brief pause, the air turned thick again; Bradley laughed heartily. "I was only kidding! No need to be so defensive!" He cleared his throat and continued. "I also know that there are some disturbing movements within the military; I want to do something about this." He took up the papers on the table and flipped through them. "I have judged that you men are trustworthy. I'm giving you an order not to involve any more people in this or allow you to speak with anyone concerning this matter!" He smiled, breaking the tension in his voice. "However, when time comes I trust you will be by my side to apprehend these criminals."

"Yes, sir!" Everyone in the room saluted.

"Where is the Führer? He must be this way!" a voice sounded from outside the room.

"Damn bodyguards think they're my babysitters." Bradley said making his way out the window. "Take care, we will me again!"

Winry walked in the room and explained she bought train tickets for Dublith. "Shin, are you coming as well?" she asked.

Shin took a look at the map, "Actually, I have business in Rush Valley to take care of it's on the way so I'll be going along with you." Shin rolled out of bed and ran to the bathroom to get dressed; he emerged a few minutes later wearing his regular attire.

"Oh, Shin," Hughes began, "I almost forgot: Southern HQ is calling for you. Be sure to head there once you're done in Rush Valley."

"Yeah, you got it."

Winry looked at Edward "Rush…Valley!" she pointed on the map. "It's only the holy land of automail technicians! I've always wanted to go there!"

Edward agreed to take Winry to Rush Valley since it was on the way to Dublith, furthermore Shin needed to get to Southern Command as soon as he spoke with Treize in Rush Valley. The four boarded the train; the steam engine cried as the train began to slowly make its way off the tracks, the way to Rush Valley was clear. Shin had some information that Treize might want to hear.

A faint echo in Shin's mind distanced itself while saying: _There is still so very much to learn._


	10. Infiltration

Chapter Eleven :: A Master and an Apprentice

It was dark; Shin's eyes needed a bit longer to adjust to the darkness of the tunnel he was in. In a few minutes he was good to go and proceeded down the inky black tunnel. The tunnel seemed to go on for miles and with no idea which direction he was going, Shin would have to take the next exit he could find. It took him a little more than half an hour of walking, but he could literally see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he got closer to the light he realized it was coming from above, a sewer opening much like the one in the fifth laboratory. Shin carefully inspected his surroundings before he pushed open the grate. He breathed a sigh of relief; it stunk like hell down there. He was now in a well-lit room, almost like another warehouse; the walls were a pale eggshell-crew color, slightly warming his spirits.

"Well," Shin said exhaled slightly. "Out of there, now time to get the hell out of here."

"Oh I don't think you'll be going anywhere." A rough voice spoke out from behind Shin, he could smell whoever it was behind him; it was rank and smelled like the sewer he was just in - only worse.

Shin quickly threw an elbow from his left arm around to where he heard the voice. He could hear the bones in the figure's face behind him crush under the force of the attack, and Shin could hear the figure crumple to the floor. Shin turned around to see his attacker, to his surprise the man had a large mouth with sharp fangs hanging out of the side; a bushy light brown mane for hair. Shin wouldn't say the man was scrawny, but at the same time he couldn't say that he could overpower him either.

The man began to stand up. "Ugh, now you've done it!" he growled, and clutching his face as he groaned.

Shin picked the man up by the shirt and stood him up in front of him. Less than a second later Shin kicked the man through the wall; it shattered on impact sending drywall everywhere. The man collapse on the other side of the wall knocked out cold. To Shin's surprise he saw Edward on the other side of the wall gawking at the gaping hole in the wall. "Oh?" he began, stepping over the knocked out man on the floor. "Hey there, Edward! What's up?" Shin smiled at Edward who was still shocked that Shin literally threw someone through a wall. Shin walked into the next room where Edward was he could now see that there were a few more fighters in the room. There was a large creature in front of Edward, it had a humanoid figure and was all black; it had a toned figure and had red nodes above its collarbone. Shin walked in front of him and stood there, "Who's your friend, Ed?"

Edward snapped out of his gaze and answered Shin's question. "He's not, his name is Greed and he's a homunculus."

Shin scoffed and ran his boots across the floor leaving a black streak. "Impossible." He said simply, "No one's ever created a functional homunculus before."

The homunculus known as Greed laughed, his voice seemed to echo throughout his entire being and the entire room as well. "Kid, you should take the runt's advice. He's not lying."

Shin noticed a woman behind Edward, she was slim, young looking and her hair was in micro-dreadlocks. "Hey Ed, is this who I think it is?" Shin asked looking at the woman.

"Yeah, she's my teacher." Edward responded, motioning to Izumi.

Suddenly Shin could hear gunfire down the hallway everyone stood frozen in the room. The door burst open and military soldier raided the room opening fire on Greed. Greed smashed through a wall and ran down the hall out of sight when Shin looked over to Edward he was behind the soldiers, but Izumi was nowhere to be found.

_Click!_

Shin looked to the soldier who had their guns fixed on him ready to fire. "What the hell is this?" he demanded. "I'm a State Alchemist for God's sake!"

"We have orders directly from the top to escort the boy out of here. King Bradley told us specifically to wipe out anyone else!" a soldier said fixing his iron sights on Shin's head.

Shin sighed. "Guess I have no choice then." He walked to the soldier at point blank range. "Would you really shoot superior officer?" He asked, "Think of what that would do to your career? You'd be court marshaled, tried, and probably executed! That is, of course, if you kill me." Shin took out his pocket watch and brandished it to the soldier. "Now then," Shin said brushing some left over drywall of his shoulder. "I'll be leaving if you don't mind." Shin walked out of room and out of the Devil's Nest showing his pocket watch to several other soldiers who had him at gunpoint.

Shin walked down the street and stopped when he heard a voice from behind him. "Quite impressive what you did back there." Shin turned behind to face Edward and Alphonse's teacher, Izumi Curtis.

"Oh? It was nothing, really. I heard you're Edward's teacher, I've heard quite impressive things from him myself."

Izumi chucked, "I'm not that amazing, and to be quite honest I'm just a simple housewife. Nothing more." She paused before walking off.

Shin hesitated, "If it's all right, Izumi, would you mind if I train under you? I want to learn better techniques in combat!"

"No." She said coldly, without a skipping a beat.

Shin cringed; he didn't expect such a fast response. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't undertake students."

"But I'm good! I just need some pointers!" Shin begged.

Izumi turned and looked Shin directly in the eye, her ink black eyes locked on to Shin mysterious light blue eyes. "Alright," she said turning the other way, her back facing Shin. "If you're certain you can handle intense training like this, I won't stop you. Come to 620 Stock Road. Noon. Tomorrow." With that Izumi departed for home leaving Shin trying to figure out the address in his head.

Shin found a place to stay in a hotel. The hotel wasn't as classy as the Cascade Hotel in Central; it was a roof over his head in the chilly night of Dublith. Shin awoke the next day at 11:30 and made a phone call to Southern HQ notifying them of his absence and gave a very brief report to Nathan Gould and told him he would get his full report once he was finished in Dublith. The way Gould responded to Shin gave the impression that he wasn't happy, not one bit. Leaving the hotel, Shin plucked out his pocket map and quickly located Stock Road; it wasn't far from the hotel and was within reasonable walking distance.

Fifteen minutes later Shin arrived at the Curtis' residence. He calmly knocked on the door…there was no answer. Shin heard the grass crumple behind him; he rolled out of the way just in time to avoid an attack from behind.

It was Izumi! She chuckled and cracked her knuckles, "You're quicker than you look! And your perception of sound is quite impressive!"

"That's some welcome you got there." Shin said sarcastically. He looked around, "So where's the dojo?" he asked. "I thought we were training? And how long is this training going to take?"

Izumi cracked a light chuckle. "We are training! As for the length, it's one month."

"One month?" Shin snapped. He had a serious report he had to disclose to Mustang and Gould and this training would be severely cutting into that time. The band of five's trail could have gone cold by the time he was done! Shin shook his head. _It doesn't matter. After that encounter with Blade, I'm lucky to be alive! I'd really hate to see what the other four would do to me…_

"Is that a problem?" Izumi asked crossing her arms.

"No, Sensei." Shin said respectfully.

"If you can best me in combat, then you are more than capable to proceed on your own." Izumi cracked her knuckles again. "Now, come at me!"

Shin swallowed hard, despite what he had learned in Amestris and fighting experience back in his own world; he knew he was going to have his ass handed to him. Shin rushed Izumi throwing a punch at the side of her face.

Izumi gracefully dodged the blow as if it was moving in slow motion. She countered by throwing Shin over her hip onto the hard ground. "You're form is off!" She beckoned to a battered Shin, "How the hell are you supposed to hit anything if you aren't balanced!"

Shin got up and rubbed his lower back; he defiantly bruised it after going down like that.Shin took in consideration on what Izumi said about his form. Before rushing her again blindly he focused his energy and tried to throw another punch while following through with his body. He still missed.

Once again Izumi countered his blow, but this time she kneed him in the stomach knocking the wind right out of his lungs. "That was better!" she said to Shin, who was now trying to get air back into his lungs. "Keep it up, you followed through this time!" Shin scrambled to his feet readying himself for his next attack. This went on for hours before Shin finally collapsed; it hadn't been a total waste though Shin learned that day that brute strength wasn't always the key to victory, especially if your opponent knows how to fight back. Izumi let Shin stay at her house after deeming him worthy of being her student, Shin met with Izumi's husband, Sig and her assistant, Mason. After a good dinner Shin made his way to his room and crashed on the bed falling asleep.

Shin readied himself the next morning as ate a light breakfast Mason had pre-prepared less than an hour before Shin woke up. Shin heard Izumi calling him outside so he walked out the front door assuming Izumi had a task for him. He closed the door behind him and when he turned around he ducked just in time to avoid a throwing knife. "Whoa!" he exclaimed trying to get his bearings as he scrambled to his feet.

"Today we will be working on improving your reaction time! Judging by that quick dodge I think you might get out of this test unscathed." Izumi said readying a throwing knife in the webs of her hands.

_This woman is insane._ Shin thought to himself. _I'm doing to die here if I don't pick it up! Then again…If Edward and Alphonse made it through training like this…then why can't I? _Shin dodged another blade it embedded itself in the tree behind him. Izumi began throwing the knives faster and made them less predictable where they were going to be. Shin managed to dodge all of them, but the last two which grazed his left leg drawing blood from his torn pants.

"Nice work, Shin." Izumi said, clapping her hands. "You made it through the first two days!"

"Thanks." Shin said, trying to get the blood to stop flowing out of his wound.

"I should warn you, it's only going to get harder from here." She paused, looking at Shin's wound. It wasn't deep, but he would have to get it looked after to prevent infection. "You can back out any time, you know. I won't think any less of you."

"No!" Shin said sharply. He fixed his tone before continuing, "I need this…more than anything."

Izumi admired Shin's determination to be the best. She helped him inside and took care of his wound. Then went back outside for a couple more hours of reaction timing before it started to get dark again and Shin went to sleep.

Training continued throughout the whole week pushing Shin's abilities to the very limit. The worst was endurance training which Izumi put a twist to. She crafted identical garments that Shin wore and switched them before he woke up. When he began to train he noticed that his clothing was at least twice as heavy as before, Izumi quickly filled him in on her secret and said he was to wear them every other day to give his body time to recover.

More than three weeks had past. When Shin woke up on Monday morning he was told by Mason to meet Izumi outside of Dublith to continue his training. Shin met Izumi where she instructed him to, right outside the city of Dublith.

"Its regular training today Shin, but with a twist!" Izumi said.

"Twist? What kind of twist?" She asked, slightly perplexed.

"You'll find out in a second." Izumi said, motioning for Shin to make the first blow.

Shin had gotten better at predicting Izumi's movements now, while he still wasn't able to land a hit on Izumi because of her remarkable perception and unwavering defense…he could at least see her moves and prepare for them accordingly. Shin charged Izumi with a right hook and swiftly disengaged before Izumi could counter, he tried to sweep her legs from under her, but she jumped over his legs and countered with a left hook. It connected with Shin sending him backwards.

_Clap!_

Shin recognized that familiar sound. _Alchemy! _He thought. _I was wondering when she was going to turn it up! _Shin looked back to Izumi who now had her hands pressed on the ground she send a stone wall out from the ground out at Shin. Shin quickly jumped on the slab of stone and slid down it using the momentum to increase his speed. He tried to close line Izumi, but she dodged his attack yet again clapping her hands in midair she dragged one hand across the ground summoning a sword into her left hand. _Crap!_ Shin thought. Frantically looking around taking in consideration the angle which Izumi might attack at; he back peddled quickly knowing that any other direction would be a death sentance. Izumi quickly closed in on his retreat and slashed at Shin who managed to dodge a few critical swipes of the sword. He was at a serious disadvantage here he would have to disarm her, or use alchemy to counter her own. Shin dodge a couple more blows narrowly avoiding a deep laceration above his left knee. Izumi's attacks became much more faster and ferocious as Shin struggled to keep up with her attacks. _Is she actually trying to kill me? _Shin thought as his mind raced. Shin dodged a couple more blows, but was pushed back, and by the time he saw Izumi again she already was on top of him. He had only seconds to react to this attack; he thrust out his left hand against the force of the blade causing it to snap in two.

Shin clapped his hands making his own sword from the ground and went after Izumi with a flurry of strikes. She narrowly dodged each of the strikes, but Shin saw an opening in her defenses and broke the strikes with a swift side kick to the ribs. Izumi was pushed back a great deal and left trying to get air back in her lungs. Shin dropped his guard and his sword. "Shit! Sensei, are you alright?" he said running her side.

Izumi shrugged off the pain and got to her feet. She readied to attack when she dropped to her knees and began to vomit blood all over the ground. She collapsed shortly after almost unable to move at all. Shin panicked, he put Izumi over his shoulder in a 'fireman's carry' and hurried her back to the house. To Shin's great surprise Sig was already waiting outside ready to receive Izumi.

"I knew that one of you would be coming back like this," Sig said opening the door. "Either you bested by Izumi, or Izumi collapsing from her illness."

The next morning Shin woke up to Izumi sitting down on a chair close to the door. "Izumi! What are you doing up?" Shin asked. "You should be resting!"

"I'm fine, Shin, you can trust me on that. This happens regularly when I get too worked up." She paused, looked at Shin's left arm she could see the automail clearly now. "You saw it too didn't you?" she asked.

Quick flashes from the Portal of Truth flashed before Shin's eyes; they always ended with the same horrifying grin from Truth himself. The last words from Truth boomed inside Shin's head making him cringe noticeably. It's_ a fair trade, no?_ "Yeah." Shin finally responded. "I saw it as well."

"You damn fool!" Izumi snapped. "Why in the world would you go through with human transmutation?"

Shin clenched his automail fist. "It's not like that!" he snapped. "It's different! You probably wouldn't believe me anyways."

"Try me."

Shin explained his situation he was in to Izumi. Word for word with no exaggeration, down to the very last detail he could remember himself watching the board light up before his very eyes, but still unable to remember what came after. "So that's basically it. That's the truth, I swear it."

"Well." Izumi said, crossing her legs. "I don't envy your position, but at the same time you're story sounds a little far-fetched if anything. Then again, how would I know?"

Shin paused. "Sensei, you can also transmute without circles as well. Did you commit the taboo like Alphonse and Edward?"

Izumi flinched and paused. "Yes, I did. Years ago after Sig and I got married, I got pregnant. However, I grew fatally ill during the final week of the pregnancy and I gave birth to a stillborn. In hysteria and grief I tried to bring my baby boy back from the dead. The transmutation failed of course, and as punishment for my own mistake I was robbed of my reproductive organs. A rebound from the transmutation."

"I had no idea…I'm sorry, Izumi."

"Don't be. You're in a worse position than I am." Izumi responded. "You lost an entire arm, and was thrown into a different world than your own; with no apparent way of getting back."

Shin chuckled catching Izumi off guard. "I can't say that this arm doesn't have its benefits. And clapping to make transmutations sure comes in handy, but I wouldn't want to stay like this forever. There was a long eerie pause before Shin started up again. "How long have you known?" Shin asked beginning to show a warm smile. "My arm…how long have you known it was fake?"

"Ha! Since the first day we sparred! I could tell when I threw you on your back that first day."

Shin got ready and met Izumi outside once again. He had this weird feeling in his gut, something was telling him to give it all he had got today. Because today he felt like he could win; the two martial artists squared off in the yard ready to fight. Shin sprinted from his position, he felt faster all of a sudden like the wind was traveling underneath his legs accelerating him forward. He rushed Izumi yet again who had trouble dodging his attack amazing on how fast he had gotten all of a sudden. Shin body checked Izumi then followed up with a flurry of punches which she managed to block, she countered one of Shin's blows and attempted to off balance Shin, but he pushed her forward. Izumi rushed Shin this time, he could see her blows clearly now. He blocked a few misdirecting the blows off the side of his body and grabbed one of Izumi's punches out of the air. Izumi broke Shin's grip and disengaged from close combat. For the rest of the week Shin and Izumi were on part in terms of combat.

For the final day of his training Shin was instructed not to wear his weighted clothing. He joined Izumi on the outskirts of Dublith once again, this time Sig was standing by to help the loser. The battle scars from the furious bout weeks ago still remained etched across the land.

Izumi got into a fighting pose, "Alright, Shin. This is it. Don't hold anything back!"

"Right! Here I come!" Shin said, bolting off from his position. Without his weighted clothes Shin felt as light as a feather, Izumi's training was indeed awkward at first, but he began to understand how it was working. Shin let out a whirlwind of punches easily making them dodgeable for Izumi; the easy punches were part of his plan to give her a false sense of security. He proved his point by landing a roundhouse kick on Izumi sending her flying back across the ground. She picked herself quickly and transmuted a sword from the ground and rushed Shin while at the same time transmuting a stone wall in front of him blocking his path. Shin knew better and jumped over the wall as it was forming, on his way down he used the wall to transmute a sword of his own and engaged Izumi in close combat.

The blades clashed against each other seeming to cry out after each clash. The two were evenly matched in swordplay and a final connection of the swords caused them to break under the tension. Shin head-butted Izumi knocking her off balance, he used this opportunity to end the match. He knocked the wind out of her, followed up with an uppercut, a left hook, and then finally threw Izumi through her own stone wall causing it to break apart when she came flying out through the other side. Izumi struggled to get up, but Shin was already over her; his eerie tall figure menacing over her. Izumi laughed to herself, "I think you've won, Shin."

"Have I?" he asked, quite skeptical.

"No, for real this time. I can't move and you've broken at least three of my ribs." Izumi said, carefully inspecting the left side of her body. "How are you holding up? That was quite a beating you took."

Shin just realized he had being so focused on beating Izumi he completely forgot about his wounds. He had a laceration above his right knee and a dislocated thumb on his right hands. He also had a light cut across the left side of his head from the blade fight. He popped his thumb back into place, shaking his hand out at the pain then offered his left hand to Izumi. "Thanks." She responded taking his hand. "I neglected to mention something." Izumi said limping as she walked supported by her husband. "The training you underwent…that the most rigorous training I could think of. Something I devised up myself, not even Edward went through training like that. I specifically designed it to train the person not to lose focus under extreme situations." She paused then laughed sharply, the pain in her ribs spiked her. "Of course don't tell Ed I said that."

"Ha, you got it!" Shin said as he opened the door for Sig. He climbed into bed and got a good night's sleep, in the morning he would have to depart back to Southern HQ to give a full report on the events in Weom and his absence from duty.

Shin's body ached the next morning as he woke up. He ate a quick breakfast; he could hear the faint snores of Sig and Mason and knew they would be awake soon. After eating Shin made his way out the front door, and slowly closing it behind him trying not to make any noise. Today Shin wore his weighted clothes and carried his regular ones inside a small bag, he had left his suitcase back in Rush Valley at Treize's house to he would have to stop by there to get it; if he had put the weighted clothes in the bag it would have torn off the paper handles of the small bag.

"So you're leaving now?" Izumi said, sitting on the grass looking into the sunrise.

"Yeah, I'm heading out." Shin walked by Izumi and rested his left hand on her right shoulder. "Thank you for everything, Sensei; it's been quite an honor learning under you."

"Izumi." She said quickly. "Call me Izumi from now on. You are no longer my student."

Shin smiled, "Sure, Izumi." He started to head off in direction of the train station of Dublith but stopped for a second. "I might be coming back around here if I get rusty again. I trust you will ready to face me again?" he asked, not turning from his direction.

Izumi laughed, "You can count on it!" she said happily. "I'll be more than happy for a little rematch, you've proven to me that I still be beaten in close combat." She paused for a second. "You're alchemy's also top notch as well; I doubt there's any more I can teach you. The rest you'll have to learn on your own. Exactly the way I did."

"Trust me. I've got quite a bit of practicing to do!" He looked towards Izumi and nodded his head. "Thanks."

Shin was early for his train by the time he got to the station. He didn't have to wait long before it came rolling into the station. The train passed through the small towns of Awbeziz and Ydfuxlukya before it made it to South City. When it arrived Shin quickly disembarked the train and went to Southern Command, he was thinking he probably should have called before he showed up. He walked past the reception desk and down the hall to Gould's office; he pushed open the door without knocking to find Gould sitting at his chair. The same sharp glare from his first time here was still present on his face right now.

"Welcome back, Shin Maxwell. How did the mission in Weom go? I hope you still _remember_ the details of the mission."

Shin could tell he wasn't pleased, although, he did a good job of hiding any sort of body language or facial expressing giving away his mood. "Of course I do, sir." Shin began, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a few notes etched on a blank paper, notes he had taken from the warehouse in Weom he showed them to his slightly aggravated CO. "I made these notes directly off a dossier inside the warehouse you set me in." Shin continued flipping the paper over, "If you look on the back here, I drew a very rough sketch of the diagram I saw. It's some sort of plan organized by five ring men." Shin paused. "I had to kill one of them."

Gould looked at Shin then back at the papers. "You finally got a kill, good work, Maxwell. I knew you had it in you." He smiled. "If you were killed this mission would have been handed down to someone much less competent as you. We might have had to scrub the whole slate clean." He folded the papers in half and walked over to his desk placing them underneath a black pen. "But, since you're alive and kicking I guess we'll have to shelve this case for now. We have more pressing matters to attend to."

Shin's face tightened, "What?" he asked. "Why shelve it? We could get to the bottom of this!"

"It's not my call, Shin." Gould frowned.

"But sir, just let me continue my investigation. I promise I will be subtle! Just please—"

"That's enough, Maxwell!" Gould sharply interrupted. "Don't argue! Just be quiet…be quiet and obey."

Shin recoiled. He didn't like where this was going, but Gould had a valid point. There was no facts in play other than what Shin had put together and to continue this investigation would use up time and resources. But that wasn't the point. Something was troubling Gould, Shin could sense it inside of him; not knowing what it was bothered him the most.

Gould cleared his throat, "I hear you're working with the Fullmetal Alchemist. From what I've heard from Central he's gone up North." Gould slumped down in his chair crossing his legs before he spoke again. "Bring a jacket, it's brutally cold up there." He paused yet again, "Take care of yourself, Shin. Dismissed."

Shin snapped a salute to his CO and went to the barracks to collect his things. He boarded the next train and was back off to Rush Valley. Shin gritted his teeth on the train, still furious about the outcome of his covert operation. He was almost killed and the best excuse he got was putting a 'yield sign' on the operation. The train got a move on; Shin sat patiently in his seat eagerly waiting to arrive in the Rush Valley Terminal.


	11. A Master and an Apprentice

**AN**: **Well it's here again...this one long just like the last one. I felt like I needed to get the detail and momentum going for this chapter so I can allow it to carry me through to the next.**  
><strong>Enjoy guys! Here's chapter Twelve!<br>**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Twelve :: A Master and an Apprentice<span>

It was dark; Shin's eyes needed a bit longer to adjust to the darkness of the tunnel he was in. In a few minutes he was good to go and proceeded down the inky black tunnel. The tunnel seemed to go on for miles and with no idea which direction he was going, Shin would have to take the next exit he could find. It took him a little more than half an hour of walking, but he could literally see the light at the end of the tunnel. As he got closer to the light he realized it was coming from above, a sewer opening much like the one in the fifth laboratory. Shin carefully inspected his surroundings before he pushed open the grate. He breathed a sigh of relief; it stunk like hell down there. He was now in a well-lit room, almost like another warehouse; the walls were a pale eggshell-crew color, slightly warming his spirits.

"Well," Shin said exhaled slightly. "Out of there, now time to get the hell out of here."

"Oh I don't think you'll be going anywhere." A rough voice spoke out from behind Shin, he could smell whoever it was behind him; it was rank and smelled like the sewer he was just in - only worse.

Shin quickly threw an elbow from his left arm around to where he heard the voice. He could hear the bones in the figure's face behind him crush under the force of the attack, and Shin could hear the figure crumple to the floor. Shin turned around to see his attacker, to his surprise the man had a large mouth with sharp fangs hanging out of the side; a bushy light brown mane for hair. Shin wouldn't say the man was scrawny, but at the same time he couldn't say that he could overpower him either.

The man began to stand up. "Ugh, now you've done it!" he growled, and clutching his face as he groaned.

Shin picked the man up by the shirt and stood him up in front of him. Less than a second later Shin kicked the man through the wall; it shattered on impact sending drywall everywhere. The man collapse on the other side of the wall knocked out cold. To Shin's surprise he saw Edward on the other side of the wall gawking at the gaping hole in the wall. "Oh?" he began, stepping over the knocked out man on the floor. "Hey there, Edward! What's up?" Shin smiled at Edward who was still shocked that Shin literally threw someone through a wall. Shin walked into the next room where Edward was he could now see that there were a few more fighters in the room. There was a large creature in front of Edward, it had a humanoid figure and was all black; it had a toned figure and had red nodes above its collarbone. Shin walked in front of him and stood there, "Who's your friend, Ed?"

Edward snapped out of his gaze and answered Shin's question. "He's not, his name is Greed and he's a homunculus."

Shin scoffed and ran his boots across the floor leaving a black streak. "Impossible." He said simply, "No one's ever created a functional homunculus before."

The homunculus known as Greed laughed, his voice seemed to echo throughout his entire being and the entire room as well. "Kid, you should take the runt's advice. He's not lying."

Shin noticed a woman behind Edward, she was slim, young looking and her hair was in micro-dreadlocks. "Hey Ed, is this who I think it is?" Shin asked looking at the woman.

"Yeah, she's my teacher." Edward responded, motioning to Izumi.

Suddenly Shin could hear gunfire down the hallway everyone stood frozen in the room. The door burst open and military soldier raided the room opening fire on Greed. Greed smashed through a wall and ran down the hall out of sight when Shin looked over to Edward he was behind the soldiers, but Izumi was nowhere to be found.

_Click!_

Shin looked to the soldier who had their guns fixed on him ready to fire. "What the hell is this?" he demanded. "I'm a State Alchemist for God's sake!"

"We have orders directly from the top to escort the boy out of here. King Bradley told us specifically to wipe out anyone else!" a soldier said fixing his iron sights on Shin's head.

Shin sighed. "Guess I have no choice then." He walked to the soldier at point blank range. "Would you really shoot superior officer?" He asked, "Think of what that would do to your career? You'd be court marshaled, tried, and probably executed! That is, of course, if you kill me." Shin took out his pocket watch and brandished it to the soldier. "Now then," Shin said brushing some left over drywall of his shoulder. "I'll be leaving if you don't mind." Shin walked out of room and out of the Devil's Nest showing his pocket watch to several other soldiers who had him at gunpoint.

Shin walked down the street and stopped when he heard a voice from behind him. "Quite impressive what you did back there." Shin turned behind to face Edward and Alphonse's teacher, Izumi Curtis.

"Oh? It was nothing, really. I heard you're Edward's teacher, I've heard quite impressive things from him myself."

Izumi chucked, "I'm not that amazing, and to be quite honest I'm just a simple housewife. Nothing more." She paused before walking off.

Shin hesitated, "If it's all right, Izumi, would you mind if I train under you? I want to learn better techniques in combat!"

"No." She said coldly, without a skipping a beat.

Shin cringed; he didn't expect such a fast response. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't undertake students."

"But I'm good! I just need some pointers!" Shin begged.

Izumi turned and looked Shin directly in the eye, her ink black eyes locked on to Shin mysterious light blue eyes. "Alright," she said turning the other way, her back facing Shin. "If you're certain you can handle intense training like this, I won't stop you. Come to 620 Stock Road. Noon. Tomorrow." With that Izumi departed for home leaving Shin trying to figure out the address in his head.

Shin found a place to stay in a hotel. The hotel wasn't as classy as the Cascade Hotel in Central; it was a roof over his head in the chilly night of Dublith. Shin awoke the next day at 11:30 and made a phone call to Southern HQ notifying them of his absence and gave a very brief report to Nathan Gould and told him he would get his full report once he was finished in Dublith. The way Gould responded to Shin gave the impression that he wasn't happy, not one bit. Leaving the hotel, Shin plucked out his pocket map and quickly located Stock Road; it wasn't far from the hotel and was within reasonable walking distance.

Fifteen minutes later Shin arrived at the Curtis' residence. He calmly knocked on the door…there was no answer. Shin heard the grass crumple behind him; he rolled out of the way just in time to avoid an attack from behind.

It was Izumi! She chuckled and cracked her knuckles, "You're quicker than you look! And your perception of sound is quite impressive!"

"That's some welcome you got there." Shin said sarcastically. He looked around, "So where's the dojo?" he asked. "I thought we were training? And how long is this training going to take?"

Izumi cracked a light chuckle. "We are training! As for the length, it's one month."

"One month?" Shin snapped. He had a serious report he had to disclose to Mustang and Gould and this training would be severely cutting into that time. The band of five's trail could have gone cold by the time he was done! Shin shook his head. _It doesn't matter. After that encounter with Blade, I'm lucky to be alive! I'd really hate to see what the other four would do to me…_

"Is that a problem?" Izumi asked crossing her arms.

"No, Sensei." Shin said respectfully.

"If you can best me in combat, then you are more than capable to proceed on your own." Izumi cracked her knuckles again. "Now, come at me!"

Shin swallowed hard, despite what he had learned in Amestris and fighting experience back in his own world; he knew he was going to have his ass handed to him. Shin rushed Izumi throwing a punch at the side of her face.

Izumi gracefully dodged the blow as if it was moving in slow motion. She countered by throwing Shin over her hip onto the hard ground. "You're form is off!" She beckoned to a battered Shin, "How the hell are you supposed to hit anything if you aren't balanced!"

Shin got up and rubbed his lower back; he defiantly bruised it after going down like took in consideration on what Izumi said about his form. Before rushing her again blindly he focused his energy and tried to throw another punch while following through with his body. He still missed.

Once again Izumi countered his blow, but this time she kneed him in the stomach knocking the wind right out of his lungs. "That was better!" she said to Shin, who was now trying to get air back into his lungs. "Keep it up, you followed through this time!" Shin scrambled to his feet readying himself for his next attack. This went on for hours before Shin finally collapsed; it hadn't been a total waste though Shin learned that day that brute strength wasn't always the key to victory, especially if your opponent knows how to fight back. Izumi let Shin stay at her house after deeming him worthy of being her student, Shin met with Izumi's husband, Sig and her assistant, Mason. After a good dinner Shin made his way to his room and crashed on the bed falling asleep.

Shin readied himself the next morning as ate a light breakfast Mason had pre-prepared less than an hour before Shin woke up. Shin heard Izumi calling him outside so he walked out the front door assuming Izumi had a task for him. He closed the door behind him and when he turned around he ducked just in time to avoid a throwing knife. "Whoa!" he exclaimed trying to get his bearings as he scrambled to his feet.

"Today we will be working on improving your reaction time! Judging by that quick dodge I think you might get out of this test unscathed." Izumi said readying a throwing knife in the webs of her hands.

_This woman is insane._ Shin thought to himself. _I'm doing to die here if I don't pick it up! Then again…If Edward and Alphonse made it through training like this…then why can't I? _Shin dodged another blade it embedded itself in the tree behind him. Izumi began throwing the knives faster and made them less predictable where they were going to be. Shin managed to dodge all of them, but the last two which grazed his left leg drawing blood from his torn pants.

"Nice work, Shin." Izumi said, clapping her hands. "You made it through the first two days!"

"Thanks." Shin said, trying to get the blood to stop flowing out of his wound.

"I should warn you, it's only going to get harder from here." She paused, looking at Shin's wound. It wasn't deep, but he would have to get it looked after to prevent infection. "You can back out any time, you know. I won't think any less of you."

"No!" Shin said sharply. He fixed his tone before continuing, "I need this…more than anything."

Izumi admired Shin's determination to be the best. She helped him inside and took care of his wound. Then went back outside for a couple more hours of reaction timing before it started to get dark again and Shin went to sleep.

Training continued throughout the whole week pushing Shin's abilities to the very limit. The worst was endurance training which Izumi put a twist to. She crafted identical garments that Shin wore and switched them before he woke up. When he began to train he noticed that his clothing was at least twice as heavy as before, Izumi quickly filled him in on her secret and said he was to wear them every other day to give his body time to recover.

More than three weeks had past. When Shin woke up on Monday morning he was told by Mason to meet Izumi outside of Dublith to continue his training. Shin met Izumi where she instructed him to, right outside the city of Dublith.

"Its regular training today Shin, but with a twist!" Izumi said.

"Twist? What kind of twist?" She asked, slightly perplexed.

"You'll find out in a second." Izumi said, motioning for Shin to make the first blow.

Shin had gotten better at predicting Izumi's movements now, while he still wasn't able to land a hit on Izumi because of her remarkable perception and unwavering defense…he could at least see her moves and prepare for them accordingly. Shin charged Izumi with a right hook and swiftly disengaged before Izumi could counter, he tried to sweep her legs from under her, but she jumped over his legs and countered with a left hook. It connected with Shin sending him backwards.

_Clap!_

Shin recognized that familiar sound. _Alchemy! _He thought. _I was wondering when she was going to turn it up! _Shin looked back to Izumi who now had her hands pressed on the ground she send a stone wall out from the ground out at Shin. Shin quickly jumped on the slab of stone and slid down it using the momentum to increase his speed. He tried to close line Izumi, but she dodged his attack yet again clapping her hands in midair she dragged one hand across the ground summoning a sword into her left hand. _Crap!_ Shin thought. Frantically looking around taking in consideration the angle which Izumi might attack at; he back peddled quickly knowing that any other direction would be a death sentance. Izumi quickly closed in on his retreat and slashed at Shin who managed to dodge a few critical swipes of the sword. He was at a serious disadvantage here he would have to disarm her, or use alchemy to counter her own. Shin dodge a couple more blows narrowly avoiding a deep laceration above his left knee. Izumi's attacks became much more faster and ferocious as Shin struggled to keep up with her attacks. _Is she actually trying to kill me? _Shin thought as his mind raced. Shin dodged a couple more blows, but was pushed back, and by the time he saw Izumi again she already was on top of him. He had only seconds to react to this attack; he thrust out his left hand against the force of the blade causing it to snap in two.

Shin clapped his hands making his own sword from the ground and went after Izumi with a flurry of strikes. She narrowly dodged each of the strikes, but Shin saw an opening in her defenses and broke the strikes with a swift side kick to the ribs. Izumi was pushed back a great deal and left trying to get air back in her lungs. Shin dropped his guard and his sword. "Shit! Sensei, are you alright?" he said running her side.

Izumi shrugged off the pain and got to her feet. She readied to attack when she dropped to her knees and began to vomit blood all over the ground. She collapsed shortly after almost unable to move at all. Shin panicked, he put Izumi over his shoulder in a 'fireman's carry' and hurried her back to the house. To Shin's great surprise Sig was already waiting outside ready to receive Izumi.

"I knew that one of you would be coming back like this," Sig said opening the door. "Either you bested by Izumi, or Izumi collapsing from her illness."

The next morning Shin woke up to Izumi sitting down on a chair close to the door. "Izumi! What are you doing up?" Shin asked. "You should be resting!"

"I'm fine, Shin, you can trust me on that. This happens regularly when I get too worked up." She paused, looked at Shin's left arm she could see the automail clearly now. "You saw it too didn't you?" she asked.

Quick flashes from the Portal of Truth flashed before Shin's eyes; they always ended with the same horrifying grin from Truth himself. The last words from Truth boomed inside Shin's head making him cringe noticeably. It's_ a fair trade, no?_ "Yeah." Shin finally responded. "I saw it as well."

"You damn fool!" Izumi snapped. "Why in the world would you go through with human transmutation?"

Shin clenched his automail fist. "It's not like that!" he snapped. "It's different! You probably wouldn't believe me anyways."

"Try me."

Shin explained his situation he was in to Izumi. Word for word with no exaggeration, down to the very last detail he could remember after being thrown through the Portal of Truth. "So that's basically it. That's the truth, I swear it."

"Well." Izumi said, crossing her legs. "I don't envy your position, but at the same time you're story sounds a little far-fetched if anything. Then again, how would I know?"

Shin paused. "Sensei, you can also transmute without circles as well. Did you commit the taboo like Alphonse and Edward?"

Izumi flinched and paused. "Yes, I did. Years ago after Sig and I got married, I got pregnant. However, I grew fatally ill during the final week of the pregnancy and I gave birth to a stillborn. In hysteria and grief I tried to bring my baby boy back from the dead. The transmutation failed of course, and as punishment for my own mistake I was robbed of my reproductive organs. A rebound from the transmutation."

"I had no idea…I'm sorry, Izumi."

"Don't be. You're in a worse position than I am." Izumi responded. "You lost an entire arm, and was thrown into a different world than your own; with no apparent way of getting back."

Shin chuckled catching Izumi off guard. "I can't say that this arm doesn't have its benefits. And clapping to make transmutations sure comes in handy, but I wouldn't want to stay like this forever. There was a long eerie pause before Shin started up again. "How long have you known?" Shin asked beginning to show a warm smile. "My arm…how long have you known it was fake?"

"Ha! Since the first day we sparred! I could tell when I threw you on your back that first day."

Shin got ready and met Izumi outside once again. He had this weird feeling in his gut, something was telling him to give it all he had got today. Because today he felt like he could win; the two martial artists squared off in the yard ready to fight. Shin sprinted from his position, he felt faster all of a sudden like the wind was traveling underneath his legs accelerating him forward. He rushed Izumi yet again who had trouble dodging his attack amazing on how fast he had gotten all of a sudden. Shin body checked Izumi then followed up with a flurry of punches which she managed to block, she countered one of Shin's blows and attempted to off balance Shin, but he pushed her forward. Izumi rushed Shin this time, he could see her blows clearly now. He blocked a few misdirecting the blows off the side of his body and grabbed one of Izumi's punches out of the air. Izumi broke Shin's grip and disengaged from close combat. For the rest of the week Shin and Izumi were on part in terms of combat.

For the final day of his training Shin was instructed not to wear his weighted clothing. He joined Izumi on the outskirts of Dublith once again, this time Sig was standing by to help the loser. The battle scars from the furious bout weeks ago still remained etched across the land.

Izumi got into a fighting pose, "Alright, Shin. This is it. Don't hold anything back!"

"Right! Here I come!" Shin said, bolting off from his position. Without his weighted clothes Shin felt as light as a feather, Izumi's training was indeed awkward at first, but he began to understand how it was working. Shin let out a whirlwind of punches easily making them dodgeable for Izumi; the easy punches were part of his plan to give her a false sense of security. He proved his point by landing a roundhouse kick on Izumi sending her flying back across the ground. She picked herself quickly and transmuted a sword from the ground and rushed Shin while at the same time transmuting a stone wall in front of him blocking his path. Shin knew better and jumped over the wall as it was forming, on his way down he used the wall to transmute a sword of his own and engaged Izumi in close combat.

The blades clashed against each other seeming to cry out after each clash. The two were evenly matched in swordplay and a final connection of the swords caused them to break under the tension. Shin head-butted Izumi knocking her off balance, he used this opportunity to end the match. He knocked the wind out of her, followed up with an uppercut, a left hook, and then finally threw Izumi through her own stone wall causing it to break apart when she came flying out through the other side. Izumi struggled to get up, but Shin was already over her; his eerie tall figure menacing over her. Izumi laughed to herself, "I think you've won, Shin."

"Have I?" he asked, quite skeptical.

"No, for real this time. I can't move and you've broken at least three of my ribs." Izumi said, carefully inspecting the left side of her body. "How are you holding up? That was quite a beating you took."

Shin just realized he had being so focused on beating Izumi he completely forgot about his wounds. He had a laceration above his right knee and a dislocated thumb on his right hands. He also had a light cut across the left side of his head from the blade fight. He popped his thumb back into place, shaking his hand out at the pain then offered his left hand to Izumi. "Thanks." She responded taking his hand. "I neglected to mention something." Izumi said limping as she walked supported by her husband. "The training you underwent…that the most rigorous training I could think of. Something I devised up myself, not even Edward went through training like that. I specifically designed it to train the person not to lose focus under extreme situations." She paused then laughed sharply, the pain in her ribs spiked her. "Of course don't tell Ed I said that."

"Ha, you got it!" Shin said as he opened the door for Sig. He climbed into bed and got a good night's sleep, in the morning he would have to depart back to Southern HQ to give a full report on the events in Weom and his absence from duty.

Shin's body ached the next morning as he woke up. He ate a quick breakfast; he could hear the faint snores of Sig and Mason and knew they would be awake soon. After eating Shin made his way out the front door, and slowly closing it behind him trying not to make any noise. Today Shin wore his weighted clothes and carried his regular ones inside a small bag, he had left his suitcase back in Rush Valley at Treize's house to he would have to stop by there to get it; if he had put the weighted clothes in the bag it would have torn off the paper handles of the small bag.

"So you're leaving now?" Izumi said, sitting on the grass looking into the sunrise.

"Yeah, I'm heading out." Shin walked by Izumi and rested his left hand on her right shoulder. "Thank you for everything, Sensei; it's been quite an honor learning under you."

"Izumi." She said quickly. "Call me Izumi from now on. You are no longer my student."

Shin smiled, "Sure, Izumi." He started to head off in direction of the train station of Dublith but stopped for a second. "I might be coming back around here if I get rusty again. I trust you will ready to face me again?" he asked, not turning from his direction.

Izumi laughed, "You can count on it!" she said happily. "I'll be more than happy for a little rematch, you've proven to me that I still be beaten in close combat." She paused for a second. "You're alchemy's also top notch as well; I doubt there's any more I can teach you. The rest you'll have to learn on your own. Exactly the way I did."

"Trust me. I've got quite a bit of practicing to do!" He looked towards Izumi and nodded his head. "Thanks."

Shin was early for his train by the time he got to the station. He didn't have to wait long before it came rolling into the station. The train passed through the small towns of Awbeziz and Ydfuxlukya before it made it to South City. When it arrived Shin quickly disembarked the train and went to Southern Command, he was thinking he probably should have called before he showed up. He walked past the reception desk and down the hall to Gould's office; he pushed open the door without knocking to find Gould sitting at his chair. The same sharp glare from his first time here was still present on his face right now.

"Welcome back, Shin Maxwell. How did the mission in Weom go? I hope you still _remember_ the details of the mission."

Shin could tell he wasn't pleased, although, he did a good job of hiding any sort of body language or facial expressing giving away his mood. "Of course I do, sir." Shin began, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a few notes etched on a blank paper, notes he had taken from the warehouse in Weom he showed them to his slightly aggravated CO. "I made these notes directly off a dossier inside the warehouse you set me in." Shin continued flipping the paper over, "If you look on the back here, I drew a very rough sketch of the diagram I saw. It's some sort of plan organized by five ring men." Shin paused. "I had to kill one of them."

Gould looked at Shin then back at the papers. "You finally got a kill, good work, Maxwell. I knew you had it in you." He smiled. "If you were killed this mission would have been handed down to someone much less competent as you. We might have had to scrub the whole slate clean." He folded the papers in half and walked over to his desk placing them underneath a black pen. "But, since you're alive and kicking I guess we'll have to shelve this case for now. We have more pressing matters to attend to."

Shin's face tightened, "What?" he asked. "Why shelve it? We could get to the bottom of this!"

"It's not my call, Shin." Gould frowned.

"But sir, just let me continue my investigation. I promise I will be subtle! Just please—"

"That's enough, Maxwell!" Gould sharply interrupted. "Don't argue! Just be quiet…be quiet and obey."

Shin recoiled. He didn't like where this was going, but Gould had a valid point. There was no facts in play other than what Shin had put together and to continue this investigation would use up time and resources. But that wasn't the point. Something was troubling Gould, Shin could sense it inside of him; not knowing what it was bothered him the most.

Gould cleared his throat, "I hear you're working with the Fullmetal Alchemist. From what I've heard from Central he's gone up North." Gould slumped down in his chair crossing his legs before he spoke again. "Bring a jacket, it's brutally cold up there." He paused yet again, "Take care of yourself, Shin. Dismissed."

Shin snapped a salute to his CO and went to the barracks to collect his things. He boarded the next train and was back off to Rush Valley. Shin gritted his teeth on the train, still furious about the outcome of his covert operation. He was almost killed and the best excuse he got was putting a 'yield sign' on the operation. The train got a move on; Shin sat patiently in his seat eagerly waiting to arrive in the Rush Valley Terminal.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>**** I wish I had more time to write these now. Half of the time I want to write these, it's mostly just brainstorming and mashing ideas together. It's kind of frustrating to have a brilliant idea, jot it down, only to realize that there's a significant plot hole going on. It's worth every minute of my time though, making it all come together seamlessly it very appealing. ****


	12. The Iron Wall of Briggs

**AN: Alright! Here's the next chapter! Even better, Chapter 13 and Fourteen will be released as double feature! I actually finished 13 a couple of days before I began 14 so I spend most of my time touching it up. Hopefully this keeps you guys sated for a while. Enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter Thirteen :: The Iron Wall of Briggs<span>

_Shelved. What a joke! I was almost killed back there! _Shin's thoughts banged in his head. He was furious. _There's still so much I have to do. I have to meet up and properly have a talk with Treize, still have to get Wynn from Rush Valley; Winry will most likely be coming along up North for automail maintenance on Ed's arm. _He paused in his thinking; he ran a thumb down one of the seams in his jacket. _Right and I still have to find a suitable winter jacket for myself. I'll freeze to death up there if the polar bears don't kill me first._ Shin visually smiled, almost laughing at his own joke.

It had been a while since Shin returned to Rush Valley. It felt like he hadn't been there in years, even though it really was only a month and a couple days. Getting of the train Shin slung his bag over his shoulder and headed to Treize's house. The sun seemed to burn hotter than normal today, clear skies; not a cloud in sight…just a regular day in Rush Valley. Shin opened the door and closed it behind him.

He set his suitcase next to the door and walked down the hallway, "Hey Treize, I'm back! It's been a while, I've got some good news…" his voice trailed off when he reached the dining room. There: at the back of the room sat a very familiar figure. Sipping tea his gaze casted down on Shin who felt the eerie presence; the Führer was present inside the household of Treize. "Führer Bradley, sir. Of what do I owe the pleasure?" Shin asked, trying not to sound surprised.

"Now, now, Shin. No need to be so formal! I was just visiting an old friend; we were just talking about you actually." Bradley said taking another sip of tea.

"Shin!" a voice called out from the right. "I was wondering when you got back!" it was Treize, he looked well. Much less tired looking than usual; and a clean shave to boot. He paused and examined Shin. "You've been working out?" he chuckled. "And you seem to have grown a bit as well!"

"I was doing some training down in the South. I was a little bit rusty in combat so I figured I should take care of that before I got hurt." Shin just took in what Treize said about his height. "Wait, you said I grew? Should I get Wynn to take a look at my automail?"

Treize nodded his head, "Yeah, she's right upstairs with Winry. Let me get your jacket for you…" Treize took Shin's jacket, his expression changed quickly. "What is this? A lead jacket? It's so heavy!" he said examining Shin's jacket.

Shin chuckled as he walked up the steps, "It's part of my training." He called back.

Shin opened the door to Wynn's room. She was sitting on the bed reading a book while Winry was tinkering with some spare automail parts she had inside her toolbox. "Shin!" Wynn exclaimed snapping off her bed, she embraced the young alchemist. "I missed you! How did it go down there? Did you run into any trouble?"

Shin blushed. "Hi, Wynn…Hello Winry." He sat down on the ground and sighed, "I'm fine Wynn, and to put it bluntly…I ran into some red tape when I was down there. They pulled the plug on my investigation, I don't even know why."

Wynn frowned and looked at Shin again. "Hey…" she said noticing his height difference. "You got taller down there…what were they feeding you?" she giggled. Wynn got close to Shin and rolled up his left sleeve, she noticed his automail was scratched to hell, but there were no signs of any wear and tear, and no signs of permanent damage. Regardless some small adjustments were needed to make the arm match the rest of the organic body. Shin lay on the bed face down with his arm across a desk Wynn had pulled up.

"Oh hey, Winry?" he said, slightly muffled under the sheets.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Edward and Alphonse are up North at Fort Briggs. I'm going up there with him, and you're coming with me. Knowing Ed, he probably didn't tell you where he was going. On top of that, his arm is steel; it's going to be freezing to his skin."

Winry sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like Ed alright. Running headlong into something without thinking it through fully thinking it through…when does the next train leave?"

"Not for a couple of hours, we can use this time to prepare. Wynn I'm sure you have a winter jacket here right?" Shin asked.

"Yeah!" Wynn replied tightening a nut on his shoulder.

_Ouch!_ "Good, then you can lend Winry one since I don't think she expected this."

"What about you?" Winry asked.

Shin snickered to himself. "I just need some fleece and a minute for a quick transmutation then we can leave." He paused. "So it's been a month Winry, have you been here in Rush Valley the whole time?"

"No." she replied, "I was in Central for a bit with Ed. I also met King Bradley there as well, he seemed pretty nice."

Shin could tell she was holding something back, something either personally or emotionally disturbing. He could sense it in her voice and the off balance composure in the air. "Was there something else?" Shin asked flexing his fist, Wynn finished the adjustments and he sat on the bed now looking Winry in the eye.

After a few moments of silence she spoke up. "Um, yeah, I ran into Scar while I was there."

Shin's eyes bolted open, "He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No…well kind of. It's more emotional than anything."

"What did he do?" Shin said pressing on.

"Well, as you know. My parents were killed in the Ishvalan Civil War; I found out two weeks ago that Scar was the one that killed them."

The room fell silent; Shin didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry." Shin choked up, he could hear Wynn sniffling behind him.

"So the man on the broadcasts killing State Alchemist, is the same man who murdered Uncle Urey and Auntie Sara?" Wynn asked.

"Yeah…" Shin said, his heart burned. He didn't know what to make of the situation, more importantly he noticed that Winry wasn't crying at all.

"I promised I wouldn't cry again." Winry said, as if reading Shin's thoughts. "I promised Ed and Al that the next time I cry it's when they get their bodies back."

The time for the trio to depart for the north had arrived. They decided to travel very light and assumed that they wouldn't be up in the north for long; everyone took two days' worth of clothing while Shin only took one freeing up some more space. Shin, Wynn, and Winry made their way downstairs.

"So you're off again?" Treize asked the three. "You guys can't stay put can you?"

Shin smiled, "Not exactly. We'll get the chance to speak again Treize, I promise you!" Shin eyed the room not drawing any attention to Treize. _Bradley's gone. _He thought. _What exactly did he want with Treize? I doubt it could have been a 'friendly visit' what's he planning…_

"Shin?" Treize asked. "I said you should take a warmer jacket with you up north, it's not like Central."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me Treize; do you have any fleece?" Shin asked.

Treize looked confused, but pointed Shin to where he kept it. In a matter of moments a clap could be heard as Shin returned with his jacket now having a hood insulated with fleece as well as the interior of the jacket. The three said their goodbyes to Treize and they left for the terminal platform. Shin carried both toolboxes onto the train and even picked where they were going to sit as well. Once they were all settled in the train jumped forward and began to take off, it was a single train ride from Rush Valley to North City.

"How long do you think this trip will take?" Wynn asked, shifting to the window side of the train.

"We've got 80 kilometers to cover and the train will probably being going about 70 kilometer per hour…so I'm assuming an hour and a half – that's excluding stops at stations of course." Shin said, shifting down the seat closer to Wynn. "From Central we still have to pass through: Relio, Yasooliztu, Lautoxan, and Zowuy before we can get to North City."

"Wow…" Winry said, taking in Shin's full explanation. "Are you like some sort of cartographer?" she asked.

Shin laughed, "No, I just make it my business not to get lost. Anywhere. I'm also naturally good a judging distance when traveling."

Shin was nearly right, a little more than half an hour had passed and before he knew it they had all arrived in North City. Shin quickly located the Command Center and went inside to speak with the receptionist.

Shin tapped on the desk to get the man's attention, "Hey there. State Alchemist Shin Maxwell reporting in, could you give a call to Fort Briggs to let them know I'm coming up?"

"Sure, no problem." The man said picking the phone up off the receiver.

Another man came up and walked up to Shin getting his attention. "Did you say you were heading up to Fort Briggs? I'm headed there now and can give you a lift." The man said. Shin analyzed him, he wore an all-white that would seem to camouflage him were he out in the snow, a violet tie transitioned within the theme of white; a simple expensive luxurious hat completed the man's appearance. "Major Solf. J. Kimblee. Pleasure to meet you." He said in a raspy, but reassuring tone.

"Shin Maxwell - Luna Alchemist. Nice to meet you, sir." Shin said, shaking the man's hand. He noticed when he pulled away from the handshake he had some sort of marking on his hands, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of the full picture. He looked to Wynn and Winry who were standing behind him, "This is Winry Rockbell, the girl on the left, and Wynn Camara, to the right."

"Wait did you say 'Rockbell'?" Kimblee asked. "You wouldn't happen to be the daughter of the doctors Rockbell, who were stationed in the war, would you?"

Winry nodded her head. "Yeah, I am." She replied simply.

"They were good people. They refused to leave their post and continued helping people 'till the very end. I have a lot of respect for them." Kimblee said bowing his head. He looked back up at Shin, "My car is just outside, let's get moving."

Before Shin left the Command Center he put everyone's things in one of the barrack and carried the toolboxes to the car. He loaded the car up and got inside sitting in the back while a soldier occupied the front seat. The drive wasn't long at all, fifteen minutes in total with short room for idle chatter. When Shin got out he was amazed out big Briggs actually was in person, it was like the Great Wall of China just a miniature version. _The Iron Wall of Briggs, eh?_ He thought to himself. _I can see it lives up to its reputation._

Winry had mentioned to Kimblee that Ed's automail needed to be tweaked to suit the north. They entered Briggs and Kimblee showed them where Edward was. _He's in a cell? That's a weird place._ "Hey Edward, nice to see you again!" Winry said smiling.

"Winry!" Edward shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?" he gripped the bars tightly. Shin now noticed that both brothers' wrists were bound. _Just kind of trouble did these two get themselves into…_ Shin pondered.

"What do you mean, 'why did I come here'? Shin contacted me saying you were in the North!" She shot back.

"Actually," Shin began. "When I was coming back from South City, I ran into the Führer back at the house-"

"You what?" Edward interrupted, "Führer Bradley was in Rush Valley?"

"Yeah," Shin continued. "He and my Commanding Officer, Nathan Gould, tipped me off that you were in the North. Bradley was the only one who told me _specifically_ to bring Winry along. Of course I didn't argue."

Shin could hear Edward's fists tightening on the cell bars. The lock on the cell was opened as an officer escorted Edward out of his cell leaving Alphonse behind. "This way." He said.

Down the hall they went, a door slid open revealing a medium sided room. There was an operating table here. _Looks like a Medical Bay._ Shin thought, his suspicions were confirmed when he noticed a cabinet full of antiseptics and antibiotics. Edward lay on the bed face up with his right arm reaching across the table. Unlike Shin's arm, Edward's would have to be completely removed and reattached with a new one, the foundation however could stay. Winry opened up her toolbox and pulled out a new arm, it was silver, shiny and judging by the look of it Shin could tell it had a few different elements inside of it.

Edward got up from the bedside once his leg and arm were done. "It's so light!" He said surprised, "This won't affect my performance like that last arm, will it?"

"Not really," Winry said polishing her tools over the sink. "It's made of a few other materials than just steel, technically, it's slightly weaker but you shouldn't notice it at all."

The curtain over the far side of the room opened and a large man walked out. He sported a heavily modified automail right arm, and a Mohawk which had a long braid at the end of it which was effortlessly slung around his neck dropping below right shoulder. If Shin was out in the cold he could easily mistake this man for a bear - he was massive.

"What the hell are you doing out of your cell?" he demanded.

"Unlike some people, someone around here actually respects State Alchemists." Edward said sarcastically, "Are you also upgrading for the cold as well?" he asked noticing his automail arm.

"HA!" the man said, brandishing his automail arm. "There's nothing left for me to upgrade to!" Shin noticed the arm was actually a standard hand, with a vicious looking claw. _Diamond reinforced fingers. Very clever. _

Winry when nuts over the automail… almost drooling over the man's arm. "Who's the girl? She's way too cute to be handing around you."

"She's my mechanic." Edward said.

The man seemed to glare at Edward. He looked towards Shin and Wynn, "Then who's the other cute girl?" the man said smiling down at Wynn.

"Back off." Shin growled. "She's mine," There was a long awkward paused before he realized what he just said. He tried to suppress himself from blushing and rephrased himself, "she's my…mechanic!"

The man glared at Shin as well, almost ready to strike out at him at any moment. "Are you military?" he asked.

"Yup." Shin replied.

"Name and rank?"

"Shin Maxwell, Major." Shin said, taking out his pocket watch. "I'm also a State Alchemist."

The man growled and stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him. "Don't mind Buccaneer, he's usually like that with newcomers." A man said behind Shin. He sported a black and red bandana wrapped around his head, red-orange hair gave him a sharp look and a warm smile welcomed the visitors. "The name's Neil, I'm the chief engineer here at Briggs."

"Nice to meet you." Shin said smiling.

"Hey, it's Shin right? Who designed your arm, it looks a lot like Edward's over there. Except yours looks to be more heavily reinforced and more beefy looking."

"She did."

"Who, this girl?" Neil asked, skeptically.

"She's a lot better at automail than she claims to be. She and Winry over there are cousins." Shin said, motioning to Winry who just finished cleaning up her tools. _That probably explains why their names are so similar. _Kimblee motioned Edward over to a room; they were going to speak private by the looks of it. "Wynn," Shin began. "Come with me." Wynn grabbed her things and followed Shin back to where Edward's cell was; Alphonse was patiently waiting in the cell by himself. Shin looked to the two guards who were watching over the cell, "Give us a minute." He said. The two guards went about their business leaving Shin, Wynn, and Alphonse alone.

Shin chuckled slightly. "So tell me, Alphonse," Shin said, opening the cell and sitting down on the bed opposite of Alphonse. "Just what exactly did you two get yourselves into? Last time I saw your brother was at the Devil's Nest." He narrowed his gaze on Alphonse, his chilly blue eyes locked onto the metal boy's head. "Just tell me exactly what's going on here."

Alphonse looked at Wynn, then back to Shin. "On our way back to Rush Valley we encountered a man from Xing, Ling Yao. He said he was looking for a way to acquire immortality; the Philosopher's Stone is what he was after. When we got to Central, we found out that Lieutenant-Colonel—I mean Brigadier-General Hughes is dead—"

"Dead?" Shin exclaimed. "But, how?"

"We don't know who did it. I'm guessing Hughes picked up on something he shouldn't have and was killed to send a message to everyone else sticking their nose where it doesn't belong." Alphonse continued. "But, we later found out that Maria Ross was framed for the murder. Once Roy Mustang found out, he coldly executed her in an alleyway. When brother when to the ruins of Xerxes he found out that Maria Ross wasn't dead, the Colonel faked her dead. He secretly knew that she was being framed."

"Clever bastard." Shin said smirking.

"We used Scar in Central to lure out the other homunculi since, apparently, they aren't allowed to harm us or allow any harm to come to us. With Ling's help we managed to capture a homunculus named 'Gluttony' and we took him to a safe house."

"There's more than one?" Shin asked.

Alphonse nodded his head. "It gets worse; the head of the military…Führer King Bradley is a homunculus!"

Shin's throat went dry; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. All his thoughts raced around in his head like buzzing hornets, he looked at Wynn for a second, and he could only guess what she was thinking. "Wynn, a homunculus is an artificially created human."

Alphonse continued. "Gluttony had another monster hidden inside of him; he destroyed the safe house and swallowed brother and Ling during a battle with Envy. I thought I would never see him again…"

"So…these homunculi, there are seven of them right?" Shin said, thumbing his chin. "Yeah, there had to be. I see the pattern now, each one of these homunculi you mention is named after a deadly sin."

"Well…" Alphonse began, "There's actually only six of them now, the Colonel managed to kill one of the homunculi named 'Lust' underneath the third laboratory."

"Hm…" Shin pondered, "this is sounding familiar; I think I might have run into her with Ed underneath the fifth lab."

"Ed managed to get out of Gluttony's stomach by opening the real Portal of Truth. We met a shady figure known as Father; the funny thing is he looks like our dad, but apparently has no relation to him. It turns out the lair of this Father guy was right underneath Central Command. We met with Bradley shortly after being escorted by Envy; he told us that we were not to meddle in the affairs of the homunculi." Alphonse paused then looked at Shin again, "It's not all bad though, we might be able to restore our bodies using Xingese alkahestry! There is a little girl traveling with Scar, she is quite skilled in the art of alkahestry."

Shin pondered all this information for a second. "If Central Command is seriously up to no good…then I can safely assume Bradley knows I've met with you already. If that is indeed true then he will most likely have me killed, or at least stonewall me from getting any more information." Shin stopped, and snapped his head up in realization. "Wait a second, I remember that woman at the fifth lab said something about me being an 'important candidate for sacrifice'…maybe Bradley has some use for me." Shin slapped his knee, "Damn it! That explains why he was at the house today!" Shin looked at Wynn who was still processing the information she heard, she held her head as if it was about to burst. "Wynn," Shin began. "Just pretend you never heard any of this, be oblivious. If anyone asks about what Alphonse says…disregard it."

"But, Shin!" She protested.

"Just listen to me!" he shot back, "I don't want anything happening to you. I'd feel sick if I did!" Shin heard footsteps coming down the hall, it was Kimblee and Edward. "It looks like our time is up." Shin said, opening the cell doors and walking out with Wynn. Winry had just arrived at the cell. Edward explained to Winry that she was only a hostage by coming to Briggs. He also said that he had been ordered to commit mass murder and was offered a Philosopher's Stone as payment—he shot down the offer as quickly as it was brought up.

"So that's it then. I'm leaving with Kimblee to hunt down Scar." Edward said. "Oh," he continued, now speaking to Kimblee directly. "I'll need Al with me as well; he's immune to Scar's bodily destruction so he will come in handy."

"Well that _is_ quite interesting." Kimblee said.

"I'm coming with you." Shin said, fastening his jacket on his shoulders.

"No sir, Mr. Maxwell. You're staying here." Kimble intervened.

"Scar killed Winry's parents. Wynn is Winry's cousin, so Scar also killed her aunt and uncle. I'd say that's grounds for payback… don't you think?"

"Then why are _you _coming?" Kimblee asked, skeptically.

"Because, Wynn is my sister." Shin lied. He prayed that Kimblee wouldn't call his bluff; he could tell that Kimblee was a sharp man, but then again, Shin was a little more cunning. "Would you really deny me a right to vengeance?" he pressed.

Kimblee sighed, and rested his white hat on his head. "Very well. You may accompany us as well."

"Also, Wynn is coming with me as well. She also doubles as my mechanic for my automail, if it gets damaged I won't be able to exact my revenge now can I?"

"This is true…" Kimble said, gritting his teeth.

"I'm coming as well." Winry pushed in. "I just performed a complicated upgrade which I've never done before! What if something goes wrong?"

"Oh for God's sake, all of you just get in the car!" Kimblee said, now quite annoyed.

Shin walked down the hallway, he felt a nudge in his right side.

Wynn smiled at him, "Nice one!" she said.

Shin laughed, "Yeah I thought it was pretty clever." He was lucky to have deceived Kimblee; he was a hard person to sway with words as both he and Shin could be very skeptical.

There wasn't enough room to fit everyone in one car especially since Alphonse took up most of the back seat so Shin and Wynn volunteered to ride the next car behind the one Kimblee was in. Shin asked where exactly they were headed to, the officer in the passenger seat handed him a small map of the Northern area, and he quickly spotted the red circle. _Baschool?_

Baschool was an abandoned mining town; it was quite large and looked like it could expand itself into a small city. The cars stopped and everyone unloaded out. "Hey, Major Miles?" Edward asked a dark skinned officer. "Why are we stopping in an abandoned mining town?"

"We have reports that Scar was sighted in this town. Since the mines shut down, this place is basically a ghost town…there's lots of places to hide here. Stay on your toes." Miles paused before addressing the rest of his men. "All squads! Report here if you see Scar!"

"Yes, sir!" the men of Briggs replied as they scattered in the area.

Shin looked at Edward and nodded, he figured what he was thinking and decided to follow his lead. Two large men followed Edward and Alphonse through the city. _Kimblee's men, that's for sure._ Shin thought leading Wynn in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Alphonse exclaimed. "What's that over there? I think I saw Scar!" Without hesitation Edward and Alphonse bolted into the building, diverting Kimblee's goons away from Shin and Wynn.

"Comon! This way!" Shin said, grabbing Wynn's arm. He dashed down a few blocks down and ducked into a nearby alley, only stopping to inch his head slowly around the corner. _Good, no one saw me leave._ He walked into a nearby abandoned building and located the stairs. After climbing up three stories, he had to climb up a ladder to reach the roof; he helped Wynn on to the top of the building and looked around for the Elric brothers. The view was great from where he was standing he had a fantastic vantage point from the rooftops. Shin looked for Edward he couldn't see anything at first, but in the distance he could see Edward jumping across buildings with Alphonse. They stopped at one and entered it through the roof.

"There." Shin said aloud. He jumped across the roof, there was a couple more he had to jump across to get to the roof where he saw Edward—he stopped dead in his tracks, he almost forgot that Wynn couldn't make that jump. _I can't use alchemy; someone might see something…or hear it._ "Wynn!" Shin called out near the edge, "Jump, I'll catch you!" Wynn looked skeptical and afraid to jump; her body recoiled backwards a little. "Trust me." Shin said reassuring her.

Wynn backed up a little bit to give herself room for the jump. She sprinted forward and jumped at the last second - she didn't clear the ledge. Shin grabbed her hand as she fell through the air; "Got you!" he said catching her with his left arm. He pulled her up from the ledge; lucky for Shin, and Wynn, the next few gaps we fairly small and Wynn could easily clear the next two. They hopped across the building and then landed on the building Ed and Al went into, indicated by another pair of footprints on top of the freshly fallen snow.

Shin walked through the deserted hallways of the building with Wynn. Located Edward though this maze of hallways would be difficult, he didn't even know what floor Ed was on—

"What do we need his help for?"

_Well, that wasn't too hard._ Shin thought recognizing that voice; it came from down the hall. Shin walked by one of the rooms and saw people inside of it; he back peddled and walked inside with Wynn. "There you are, I thought I lost you!" He said to the group who were sitting down on makeshift chairs. Shin saw a man who he didn't recognize, his face was badly scarred. "Who is this?" Shin asked Edward.

"That's Dr. Marcoh."

"Then who is this? And the little girl?" Shin said pointing to the next two strangers.

"May Chang and Lieutenant Yoki."

"Oh! May Chang! The little girl who is skilled in alkahestry? Alphonse told me about you!" He said smiling.

May blushed, "He did?" she asked coyly.

"Ehm, hello?" Yoki began, twisting his pointy, thin moustache. "What about me? The great Yoki?"

Shin frowned; he remembered seeing a 'Yoki' in the archives. He was the person in charge of the coal mining town of Youswell. He was stealing the townsfolk's money and them forcing them to pay back their taxes, basically lining his own pockets. He glared at Yoki now, "Oh yeah, you." He began. "You're irrelevant."

Yoki fumed, "What did you say you brat!"

An explosion broke off the argument. Edward looked out the window; the explosion came from a building about three blocks away from the group's location.

"Isn't that the building where Scar is?" Marcoh asked.

"Alright," Edward began. "Everyone stay put here, Alphonse and I will check it out."

"I'll stay here." Shin said.

Another explosion went off in the building Scar was in; more smoke came from the building's topside.

_Glorious_.


	13. Conflict at Baschool

Chapter Thirteen :: Conflict at Baschool

Shin tapped his foot on the frigid ground feverishly. He hated waiting - especially knowing he was helpless to assist Edward and Alphonse. _I hope they are alright over there._ Ten minutes had passed before his patience broke. _That's it. No more waiting. I'm leaving now._ He looked to Wynn, Yoki, May, and Dr. Marcoh. "I'm not waiting here anymore." He said out loud. "Dr. Marcoh, look after Wynn for me. Kimblee's men should still be on the far side of town so if you move from building to building they shouldn't see you." Shin fastened his jacket and brushed off the snow that was on his arms.

"Right. We'll meet up with you in a little while once the coast is clear." Marcoh responded.

Shin climbed back up on the roof after saying a short goodbye to Wynn. Once he got to the roof he could feel the wind starting to pick up slightly. He sniffed the brisk air. _A storm is on its way. I can feel it._ He hopped across the peaks of the building eventually got closer to the building. He took another leap, but lost his footing causing him to falter when he jumped. Shin grabbed the edge with his left hand; he was slipping off the roof, grabbing with both hands now he pulled himself on the roof breathing a sigh of relief.

He dropped down into the building, when he landed he brushed the snow off his jacket. It wasn't hard to pinpoint where the Elric brothers were, all he had to do was follow the rubble. He could tell he was getting closer when he could hear groaning - pained, murmured, groaning - like someone who had been incapacitated. He came to a room with no doors, but fashioned a large opening which Shin peered his head into. He could see the Elric brothers squaring off against Scar himself who, upon closer inspection, appeared to be wounded a little high on his left arm. Shin moved in to intervene but was stopped by his left arm which was being held back by something pulled ever-so-slightly.

Shin slowly turned around realizing it was Wynn. Who else would be gently pulling at his arm like that? Wynn wasn't alone; Winry, Major Miles, and a small squad of Briggs soldiers accompanied her. Shin was shocked how fast Wynn was able to located Major Miles and find him inside the building as well. Winry stepped in front of Shin and walked through the entrance only to be stopped by Major Miles. When Shin looked again Scar was pinned to a large piece of debris.

Shin walked in the room noticing a grotesque looking humanoid figured knocked out on the ground; one looking like a deformed fat person, and the other like a pig of some sort. _Chimeras, no doubt about it._ He thought walking past the unconscious chimeras.

Major Miles walked past the Elric brothers and pointed a pistol at a helpless Scar. "Your time has come, Scar. It pains me to have arrest my kinsman, but you cannot be allowed to live." He turned to the Elric brothers, "Elrics," he said still having Scar at gunpoint "you have my thanks for capturing Scar. We'll take it from here."

Winry stepped forward to Scar; both Edward and Alphonse scolded her for approaching the mass murderer. "Let me go, it's okay." She said quietly. "Just let me talk to him, I've wanted to talk to him for so long." "…Why did you kill my parents?" She asked.

Scar sighed and replied. "Anything I could possibly say would just be an excuse, I killed the Rockbells…the doctors…the husband and wife," he paused and bowed his head "I have no more right to speak about my actions. But you, young woman, you have every right to take your revenge on me."

Silence quickly filled the room no one said a word. Winry walked over to a nearby crate and ripped off a piece of fabric covering the box, she returned to Scar and began to bandage his wound catching everyone off guard, even Scar himself. "Are you…forgiving me?" he asked, softly.

"Oh don't get the wrong idea. I could never forgive a monster like you." Winry shot back, fire now visible in her eyes and audible in her voice. She stood up and looked at Wynn and smiled who smiled back.

"Shall I contact HQ?" A soldier asked.

"Yeah," Miles replied, "they need to get an update."

"Hey, Scar," Edward began, tightening his fist, "Winry is how she is. But if it were down to us, we'd beat you bloody and drag your dead ass to Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell's grave."

"I second that notion." Shin said, cracking his knuckles.

Scar remained silent. He looked up at Major Miles, "You…Miles right? I have a question for you."

"What is it?" Miles asked.

"You called me your 'kinsman' did you not?"

"I did," Miles said "I lived in Ishval during our grand-fathers' time." He removed his shades revealing his stark red eyes. "Too bad we had to meet like this, my red-eyed brother."

"Why is an Ishvalan conspiring with the Amestrian military?" Scar questioned.

"I'm working from the inside to change this country's perspective of Ishval and its people."

"Ha," Scar replied weakly, "I think you'll find that people don't change so easily."

"True." Miles said plainly. "There's no telling how long it might take, but if anyone can do something, it's a bi-racial person like me. This body of mine is just a small drop of Ishval that was poured into the Amestrian military. But even just throwing a small pebble into a lake can cause a huge ripple. Ironically enough, the person who showed me that it would be worth it to serve in the military was a pure-blooded Amestrian."

Scar looked down and bowed his head slightly. "The hatred that was born in me during the war had reduced me to little more than festering pus. I do not pray…I do not reconsider the path I've taken. Pus is not saved by God….Pus oozes and rots…and eventually meets it end down the drain. I'm glad that there are still people like you."

Miles' expression didn't change, he simple picked up the receiver on his radio and called HQ notifying them that they were in section D-5 and requested backup. He hung up the radio and returned gaze to Scar, "Regardless of our circumstances I can't allow you to go free. We're taking you in, and you're going to pay for your crimes." Miles averted his gaze to Winry now, "Miss, I'm going to ask you to leave. We can't let Kimblee make you his captive again."

"Please wait!" A gruff voice called out from behind. It was Mr. Marcoh with May Chang and Yoki following closely behind him. He walked to Miles with an old looking book, "We need Scar to decipher these notes, and it fuses Xingese alkahestry and Amestrian alchemy together. But all the critical parts are written in ancient Ishvalan. Scar is the only one who can read it, so you see…" his voice trailed off.

"You're the alkahestry girl, aren't you?" Miles asked May. "I have orders to bring you back to the fort." May seemed to be taken back a bit and took one step behind her. "Don't worry; you're to receive a warm welcome." Miles said, reassuring May. Miles pondered for a second, "Well now, if Scar can't be captured, and it would be just as bad if they found out that Marcoh is here…Hm…It might be best to hide all of you at Fort Briggs."

"Whoa, whoa! Hang on!" Edward said interrupting Miles. "You're gonna bring **him** along?"

"We need him to read the alkahestry research, right?" Miles said pointing his gun at Scar. "Scar. Assist us and we'll delay your sentencing. Agreed?"

"I don't have much say in the matter now, do I?" Scar asked. "Yes, I will help you. I give you my word."

"Swear to it?" Miles asked.

"I swear on the blood of Ishval that runs through my veins, my red-eyed kinsman."

"All right then." Miles said lowering his gun. The two chimeras in the corner of the room that were now tied up to a beam began to wake up. "Oh…I almost forgot about those two, we have no use for them. Kill them."

"Wait!" Alphonse interjected, "You don't _have_ to kill them!"

"There's no point on letting them live." Miles said coldly.

"Showing us mercy?" The fat one asked.

"Screw you. Ya little shit. We don't need your pity." One of the chimeras said; the one resembling a boar and a pig.

"Really, look at us; we can't live normal lives with these bodies. It's our time to die." The fat one says.

Alphonse paused before asking, "Don't you have families to go back to?"

"Yeah," the fat one began "but we died the day they turned us into these things…I haven't seen my family since."

"Don't you miss them?"

"Of course. But what can we do?" the boar asked.

Alphonse chuckled. "So you don't want to try and turn your bodies back to normal? You're actually happy with how you are?"

"Of course we wanna go back to being normal!"

Alphonse got right up in the fat one's face. "There's your answer!" He said sternly. "You can't just say 'What can I do?' and abandon all hope! No whining! No crying! No giving up without even putting up a fight!"

"What the hell would you know?" the fat one said gritting its teeth quite frustrated now.

Alphonse removed his helmet, revealing his empty shell. "I know how you feel."

The chimeras were shocked, they bantered on about how Alphonse was completely empty and giving them hopes despite his situation. The wind started to blow violently outside, the storm was around the corner and they were running out of time.

"We aren't properly equipped to march through heavy snow. Damn! There's no way out of the town!"

"I thought this was a mining town," Yoki spoke up, after being silent for so long, "why don't you just use the tunnels?" Everyone in the room fell silent out of astonishment, but Yoki continued, "Actually, a huge town like this probably has tunnels going all the way through the surrounding mountains."

"Why didn't I think of that…?" Shin said quietly to himself.

"Remember," Yoki began, "I was originally in charge of a coal mining town!"

Miles pulled out a map of the surrounding area and pointed to Baschool. "He's right! The tunnels come out on the other side of the mountain! It's closer to Briggs than this place, at least. Excellent! We can keep Kimblee here for a few days and give Marcoh's group some time to get to the fort." Miles gave Marcoh a small notepad with a written note and signature inside of it. "If you encounter any Briggs soldiers give them this," he flipped to the signature, "I've explained the situation and ordered them to assist you."

Marcoh grunted, "Now we must consider what to do with Miss Rockbell and the Elrics…"

Winry pondered, "This is kinda hard for me to say…but what would Kimblee do if I were taken hostage?"

"Are you crazy?" Alphonse and Edward both snapped.

"If I need to risk my life so others can escape, then I will!" She shot back.

"We're NOT letting you go with Scar!" Edward pressed.

"Yeah! You don't need to take such a risk!" Alphonse said, backing his brother up.

"You told me I was involved now! Stop trying to handle everything yourself and just listen for once!"

"Enough!" Shin said, raising his voice, "We're wasting too much time! Winry is right; this is the only logical way for her to escape without raising any suspicion." He walked over to Scar and clapped his hands pressing them against the debris, unbinding him. "If it makes you feel better, Edward, I'll go with Winry." He shot a look at Scar, "I have you're word that you won't touch Winry, correct?"

"That is correct." Scar replied.

"Wait!" the fat chimera cried out, "If you're going to retreat, take us too!"

"Hell no," a Briggs solider said, "you too are far too dangerous, we're executing you."

"Look," the fat one began, "I understand if you don't trust us. So you're free to cuff us or restrain us however you see fit." The chimeras looked down to the ground, "Kimblee doesn't tolerate failure so we're dead either way."

The Briggs soldiers bound the chimeras' hands and everyone moves out of the building. A Briggs soldier tells Winry to take her earring outs otherwise she'll suffer from frostbite; Winry does as she's told and give them to Ed to hang on to. Scar and Winry head up to the top floor to begin the diversion while Ed, Alphonse, Shin and Wynn wait downstairs to run in the opposite direction. When they reached the bottom, the building shook and smoke emerging from behind them reaching outside, "Go!" Shin said, pushing Edward out of the entrance to distract Kimblee. "We have to move, now!" Shin said to Wynn grabbing her hand and running around to the back end of the building. He had moved just in time, Scar brought down the side of the building that Edward ran out of blocking anyone's entrance or exit from that side.

Shin broke through back doors that lead outside the building. The brisk air filled his nostrils and the wind was notably starting to pick up speed – quick. _Storms just about here._ He thought as he looked for Marcoh's group. "Shin!" A voice called out far off the right of Shin, it was Winry again with Dr. Marcoh, May Chang, Yoki, Scar and the chimeras. "We were getting worried, we almost though you didn't make it out!" She said breathing a sigh of relief.

"You can't kill me that easily." Shin said, laughing as he thumped his chest. "We should find the tunnels; the storm is just about here."

"Agreed," Marcoh began, "according to Yoki the mines are just a little north from this position."

The group approached the mines; Yoki lit a lantern and proceed to go in first. "Follow the paths where you can feel the wind," he said, "paths that have no air coming through are most likely dead-ends where toxic gases collect." He warned.

As the group walked down the tunnel guided by Yoki, Dr. Marcoh started up a conversation with Winry. "So you're the daughter of the Rockbell doctors?" he asked.

"Yeah," Winry replied, "Wynn over there is my cousin so my mom and dad were a loving aunt and uncle."

"I see," Marcoh said, "they were well known on the battlefield, and now their daughter is once again showing the great character of that family."

"I don't think I am;" Winry said sadly, "now I have to neglect my customers and my teacher in Rush Valley because of all this…I am just awful."

"Here it is!" Yoki cried out moving into a small room.

"What is it?" the fat chimera asked, who was now known as Jerso.

"It's the foreman's station." Yoki said looking through some papers, "Ah! Found it!" he held up what appeared to be a small map. "It's a well-detailed map of the mining tunnels!"

"Nice," chimera with glasses replied, he known as Zampano. "I can't even read the damn thing." He chuckled. The group moved along the tunnel following the paths that Yoki took them, eventually they began to see daylight in one of the tunnel and the airflow was stronger than the rest in this one.

"Finally," Shin began, taking a breath of fresh air, "out of that damn tunnel! Looks like the weather's cleared up as well."

Yoki took a step forward and got buried in the snow, there was at least a couple feet on top of the inches that were already initially there. Shin stopped laughing at Yoki when he could hear a faint murmur in the snow, almost like cried for help. He scanned the area looking around him, on his left he saw a foot sticking out from the ground. He could tell by the metal boot, it was Alphonse's he ran over to him and clapped his hands and pressed them into the snow, parting it allowing Alphonse to pick himself up.

"I'm alive!" he said reaching up from the chilly prison, "I tripped on something and got buried!"

"I thought you were with Miles, what are you doing out all the way out here?" Shin asked.

"I ventured through all that snow to warn you guys. Soldiers from Central have infiltrated Briggs and General Armstrong's been summoned to Central HQ."

"Shit," Shin cursed, "I thought we would have more time than that. This isn't good, it's not like we can go anywhere else, plus, we don't have any food…"

"I have that covered," Alphonse said, unbuttoning his chest piece, "I brought emergency rations and snow gear for everyone!"

"Ha! You really saved our hides, Alphonse! But wait;" Shin's voice trailed off, "won't Kimblee be suspicious that you're missing?"

"Oh, don't worry! Brother will think of something, he always—"

Alphonse's shell went limp and collapsed in the snow. "Alphonse?" Shin said shaking him in attempt to wake him up, "Alphonse, buddy? What's wrong?" he nudged him more, but it was no use. "He's not waking up…we should move him." Shin said standing in the snow.

"But how?" May asked, "He's huge! And probably way too heavy to carry!"

"Then we have to break him up." Shin said, unscrewing one of Alphonse's legs and slinging it over his shoulder. Wynn grabbed an arm and carried it, Scar lashed the back piece of the armor around his back to carry it easier, May tied Alphonse's waistcloth around her neck and carried the head and Winry carried another leg. It was too cold to continue on foot so the group found an abandoned house to set up temporary camp. Alphonse woke up shortly after.

"Welcome back, Alphonse." Shin said, stoking the fire.

"Has that ever happened before?" Winry asked.

"Yeah," Alphonse began, "it happened when I was looking for you guys."

Scar grunted. "Collapsing so frequently in such a short space of time is not a good sign."

Marcoh sighed, "I guess you'll have to remain scattered around for the time being, we don't know when you'll black out again."

"Scattered…" May said to herself. "Dr. Marcoh?" she asked, "May I see that book for a second?" Marcoh handed her the book and she tore out the spine sending the papers flying everywhere.

"What the hell are you doing?" Marcoh asked. "They are everywhere now!"

"There are so many words relating to gold and immortality…I was thinking, what if we were to separate all of the paged and group together the once using the same words." May explained.

"Ah, now I see," Shin said, "you're isolating common elements in the notes to find something new." He started to look at the pages and isolated in a pile every page that had a mention of gold on it. When there were two separate piles the three began to group them all together according to the markings on the pages, May drew a line connecting the markings from page to page. "This is…" Shin began looking down now realizing what the markings representing, "this is the nationwide transmutation circle Alphonse spoke of."

"If we don't reverse this terrible situation soon, the world will face unspeakable tragedy!" Marcoh said.

Yoki sneezed, flipping over multiple pages with his breath. "You idiot!" Zampano said to Yoki, "Now how are we supposed to figure out another way when you've flipped everything!"

That line struck a chord in Shin's brain, "I think Yoki might have accidently helped us!" He said, beginning to flip the pages around. "I noticed there were similar drawing on the reverse side of the pages, not the same but similar. Leave the pages in the same spot, but just flip them over!"

When all the pages were flipped May took the marker and redrew the lines across the pictures on the pages. "He's right," she began, "this is an alkahestric reverse of that transmutation circle."

Shin smirked, "I think we might be on to something." He looked around, and found some scrap paper around the house. He drew the alkahestric reverse on the paper down to the very little details, when he was finished he folded the paper and put it in his jacket. "We should keep moving. But before that," Shin walked over to Alphonse's back piece and knelt, "we should probably put Alphonse back together."

After Alphonse was reassembled the group headed on down the long road. There were a few stops that had to be made along the way, some needed to sit down and rest for a second, some needed to warm up before proceeding. After about an hour or so of walking they finally reached some form of social activity. They had stumbled upon an Ishvalan slum in the mountains and they graciously welcomed the group into their village. Zampano had informed everyone that he would be leaving to get supplies for the next trip once they depart again.

Shin found Dr. Marcoh treating his patients and sat down next to him. "So where is Zampano _really___going?" Shin asked.

"It's simple, really. He's going to lure out a homunculus, one named Envy to be specific."

"It's that simple, he'll just come?" Shin asked, very skeptical.

"Envy loves seeing humans in pain; he often refers us as lower life forms. He'll be here, I'm sure of it."

"Isn't this putting the village at risk?"

"We've arranged to meet Zampano well away from the village when he brings back Envy in disguise." He took another patients temperature before sending them on their way. "May has already set up a few countermeasures in the field to the north. Envy won't know what hit him."

"What about the others?" Shin asked.

"Don't worry;" Marcoh calmed him, "they'll be safe, only Jerso, you, Alphonse, May, and I are going up so Winry and Wynn will be safe here."

"Alright, I'm ready. Let's go!" Shin said flexing his left arm and standing up.

Jerso, Marcoh, and Shin made their way to the meeting spot where they would be meeting Zampano and Envy. Jerso pointed out a small collapsed hut where Alphonse and May were hiding, they waved when Shin passed.

"Hey guys!" Zampano called out from behind. "There you two are! You wanna give us a hand?"

"That's enough, Zampano," the Ishvalan stranger said, "You can drop the act now. Why, hello Doctor I see you've gotten a new face…But what are you doing way out here?" the Ishvalan's face broke off in micro-pieces revealing the face and body of Envy.

"Envy." Shin said sharpening his glare. He remembered that same raspy tone from the fifth laboratory right before he was knocked out.

"Oh hey! Shin, was it? Haven't seen you in a while!" Envy said. "I've been itching to get at you!" He snickered, "Marcoh, what made a worthless insect like you think you could escape?" Envy took a step forward; a sharp icicle pierced his leg keeping him in place. "What the hell is this?" he demanded. Zampano ran towards Marcoh and Shin laughing.

"We've been waiting for you Envy; we knew you'd show up. Especially if the rest of your kind knew I was alive." Marcoh said.

"Doesn't matter! One bug or four, I'll squash you-!"

Another transmutation occurred launching Envy into the air. Marcoh flashed a confident grin, "My alchemy has undergone an evolution, and I've placed transmutation circles all over here to act as land mines!"

"Please! That kind of alchemy doesn't even exi-" Multiple spikes came up from the ground stabbing Envy. "Fine! They're just mines…I'll just walk in your footsteps then—" Yet another transmutation went off launching Envy sky high once again. "WHAT THE HELL?" he shouted in the air.

Shin laughed joining in on making a mockery of Envy. "They only detonate to homunculus!" he shouted. "Tell me, Envy, how does it feel to be outsmarted by a bunch of 'insects' like us? Does it hurt?" Shin shouted at Envy.

"That's it!" he shouted frustrated. "Everyone dies!" Envy's arms swelled, the rest of his body followed after, he transformed into a massive beast looking creature than towered over the three. Seconds later around the mane of Envy faces seemed to swell and appear over him, it was a weird sight to see. Suddenly Envy swung his tail to knock everyone over, but it failed.

Shin jumped over the tail and landed in a tree a few meters behind him. "You stupid humans! You can't stop me!" Envy shrieked.

"Is that so?" Scar said, jumping on the monster. He cracked his wrist in his right hands, "See if you can handle this!" He said slamming his palm into the back of Envy, blue alchemy released from Scar as Envy cried out in pain as he collapsed in the snow.

"Think we got him?" Shin asked feverishly watching from the treetop. His suspicions were wrong when he saw a long pink rope-like tongue coming from Envy's mouth. His tongue wrapped itself around Marcoh and lifted him off the ground towards the monster.

"Remember what I said before, Doc? That if you tried anything funny I'd wipe a town off the map?" the creature asked Marcoh,

"I won't let you lay a finger-"

"Still putting up a fight I see." Envy said flicking Marcoh in the face, knocking out a few teeth and giving the doctor a horrible nosebleed. "How stupid can you be?"

Marcoh panted catching his breath slowly, "I've been Central's dog for years," blood trickled down his nose falling through the gaps in his teeth, "making Philosopher's stones at their command…Caving into your threats and living in fear. I'm so disappointed at myself for not trying to stop it."

"Huh?" Envy said, "I'd put a sock in it if I were you. If you keep spewing nonsense out like that I'll have to do something to shut you up." Envy looked off to the Ishvalan slum in the distance, "I think I'll start by wiping out that village down there!" He paused for a second and thought for a second, "No, destroying it won't be any fun…I'll just find a few young girls to take back to Central and make them into a new Philosopher's stone!"

"You bastards!" Marcoh shouted, "You're still making those accursed things?" Marcoh squirmed in Envy's grip trying to break free, "Let my research team go!" he pleaded.

"Let them go?" Envy asked, "I think turning them into stones would be a little more effective… don't you think?" Marcoh stood in fear and realization; he mumbled something under his breath that was inaudible to hear. "What were you so depressed about? You've made countless stones over the years, no? All using _human lives_!_"_

The guilt his Marcoh like a sledgehammer; he paused for a few moments reflecting on what Envy said to him. "Yes," he began, "I've sacrificed countless lives just to manufacture a single stone. And in doing so…I learned more about how to make them than anyone else in this country." Confidence and anger began to form in Marcoh's voice, "And when you learn to make something…You also know how to destroy it!" Marcoh's right mitten slipped off revealing a transmutation circle on his right hand, he thrust it forward touching Envy's nose. The reaction was instantaneous, red alchemical sparks flew everywhere as Envy's Philosopher's stone was being broken down. Marcoh collapsed to the ground as Jerso pulled him away from the defeated homunculus. Envy appeared to be melting, and out of his mouth spewed several heads, each spewing out several more heads until it puked out Envy defeated.

"No! This can't be happening…not to me, not Envy! Killed by a bunch of pathetic worms like you!" Envy collapsed on the ground slowly melting away he reached out a hand but it dissolved and out of his head popped out a small worm looking parasite.

Shin jumped down from the tree as Scar picked up the true form of Envy. "He called us worms this whole time...yet this form…"

May got Marcoh to sit down in a transmutation circle and stopped the bleeding from his nose and mouth. This was Shin's first time seeing alkahestry in action so he was a little surprised at first. The group headed back to the village and settled down; Envy took advantage of Yoki mocking him by biting his finger and taking control of his body, after realizing that Marcoh's room would destroy Yoki and Envy he disengaged and was placed inside an empty bottle to prevent anymore mishaps. The group left the slums and was on the road again.

They began to approach a fork in the road when Scar asked May how she got into the country of Amestris. She replied that she got in through the coal mining town of Youswell. "Here." he said, giving her the jar containing Envy, "Take him back to Xing. It's nowhere near true immortality, but we have what's left of a being that couldn't die no matter how many times it was killed. It may save your clan."

"But…if I leave," May began, trying to think up an excuse.

"There's no time to worry about someone else's country. Did you really come here with such little faith? What will you tell your people? 'Sorry, I couldn't help Xing because I was tied up saving Amestris?'" Scar pointed to the east, "You'll reach Youswell if you head east from here. Go, your people need you."

There was a long pause as May looked up at her friends teary-eyed and saddened. She took the black and white cat (which Shin only noticed up until this point, and realized it was in fact a panda) off her shoulder and bowed before the group. "Thank you all so very much!"

"I didn't understand anything you said about alkahestry, but thanks for trying to teach me anyway." Alphonse said.

May leaped up and gave the armored boy a giant hug. She soon departed in the direction of Youswell waving goodbye and walking off into the distance.

Shin sighed, "She's gone," he paused and looked to Alphonse, "are we heading back to Central, Alphonse?" he asked.

"Not quite," he responded, "there's a town I want to check up on."


End file.
